Erie Reader Book Club: May 2026
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
SUNDAY, MAY 31
The Erie Reader Book Club will be reading and discussing The Sentence by Louise Erdrich in conjunction with the Summer Preview issue of the Reader.
This summer, the City of Erie is taking on an initiative called the Summer of Reading (featured herein), with a multitude of businesses, organizations, and members of local government coming together to support literacy efforts and encourage folks of all ages to read more.
And what better way to celebrate this initiative than by choosing this book? Erdrich's The Sentence examines what we owe to the living and the dead, and, more widely, what we owe to the reader and to the book – a perfect choice for our theme.
The Sentence is the story of a Minneapolis independent bookstore and one of its employees, Tookie, as she navigates a multitude of trials: reintegrating into society after years of incarceration (during which she avidly read to survive); a complex marriage and family life; and the haunting of the bookstore by its most annoying customer, Flora, who dies at the start of the story.
Starting on All Souls' Day 2019 and ending on All Souls' Day 2020, the book follows Tookie as she takes it upon herself to solve the mystery of Flora's haunting, while also dealing with her familial relationships and coming to terms with the real-life events of the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd.
Part mystery, part realism, and wholly profound, The Sentence allows readers to escape into the rich and emotional narrative and answer these questions of what is truly owed to those in our lives.
1 p.m. // Werner Books and Coffee, 3608 Liberty St. // Free to join, cost of book not included // For more info: wernerbooks.com
