It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our fearless leader, Clara Browda, who died on December 1, 2021. She led this group since its inception with grace, humor and intelligence. Her loss is incalculable and deeply felt by us all. We treasure her memory and the legacy she leaves behind. 

About

The West Los Angeles Reading Group is currently at capacity and cannot accept new members. The group meets on Sunday afternoons six times per year, in February, April, June, August, October and December. UCLA Professor Emeritus Charles Lynn Batten serves as professional moderator for the group, which meets in the same location for each session. A fee of $15 per meeting is charged to offset expenses, and members take turns providing refreshments.

West Los Angeles

Reading Group

 Next Meeting

 

Sunday, June 11, 2023 at 1:00pm

The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter

Meeting will be conducted via Zoom

They can contact Katie Boeck if they would like to attend.

Professor Lynn Batten and Clara Browda

Professor Lynn Batten and Clara Browda

History

One of the region’s oldest and most active reading groups, the West Los Angeles Reading Group first met on February 18, 1996 and was organized by Clara Browda, who continued to coordinate the group until her death in December 2020. On February 16, 1997, a year after the group’s inception, UCLA Professor Charles Lynn Batten, PhD, came on board as professional moderator. In addition to leading the lively discussion every other month, he writes a toast to commemorate Jane Austen’s birthday for the group’s annual December meeting. The group originally rotated among member’s homes but for many years met in the community room at Clara’s condominium building. The West Los Angeles Reading Group currently has approximately 35 members.

Reading List Archive

2023

April 16
Emma by Jane Austen

June 11
The Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter

August 13
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

October 8
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton

December 10
Lady Susan by Jane Austen

2022

February 6
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

April 10
Middlemarch by George Elliot

June 5
Emma by Jane Austen

August 7
Room With a View by E.M. Forster

October 9
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

December 11
Kamila Knows Best by Farah Heron

2021

February 21
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

April 22
Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe

June 13
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

August 15
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev

October 24
Persuasion by Jane Austen

December 12
Washington Square by Henry James

2020

February 9
Sanditon by Jane Austen

June 14
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

August 16
Jane Austen’s Juvenilia

October 18
The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow

2019

February 10
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

April 7
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

June 23
Emma by Jane Austen

August 11
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

October 20
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

December 15
Three Men in a boat by Jerome K. Jerome

2018

February 11
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

April 15
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim

June 10
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

August 12
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

October 14
Persuasion by Jane Austen

December 16
Howard’s End by E.M. Forster

2017

February 19
Nutshell by Ian McEwan

April 9
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

June 11
Daniel Deronda (books 1-5) by George Eliot

August 13
Daniel Deronda (books 6-end) by George Eliot

October 15
Persuasion by Jane Austen

December 17
Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty

2016

February 21
Shirley by Charlotte Brontë

April 10
Lady Susan and Sanditon by Jane Austen

June 12
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

August 14
Emma by Jane Austen

October 8
The Janeites and Jane’s Marriage by Rudyard Kipling
Poor Emma by Reginald Hill

December 18
The History of England by Jane Austen

2015

February 15
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

April 19
Persuasion by Jane Austen

June 14
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

August 16
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

October 18
First Impressions by Charlie Lovett

December 13
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

2014

February 16
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft and A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

April 6
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

June 8
The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam

August 17
Emma by Jane Austen

October 19
The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy, Vol. 1 (“The Man of Property” and “Indian Summer of a Forsyte”)

December 14
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

2013

February 10
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

April 21
Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

June 9
The Watsons and Sanditon by Jane Austen

August 18
Old Filth by Jane Gardam

October 20
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

December 15
Lady Susan by Jane Austen

2012

February 12
The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard

April 15
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

June 10
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

August 12
Persuasion by Jane Austen

October 14
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton

December 16
Smut by Alan Bennett

2011

February 6
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

April 10
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

June 12
Emma by Jane Austen

August 21
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

October 9
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

December 18
A History of England by Jane Austen

2010

February 7
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

April 18
The Watsons and Sanditon by Jane Austen

June 6
Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth

August 15
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

October 17
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

December 19
The Rake’s Progress by William Hogarth

2009

February 8
Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

April 5
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

June 7
Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen

August 9
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

October 4
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

December 13
Persuasion by Jane Austen

2008

February 10
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

April 13
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and The Finishing School by Muriel Spark

June 8
Emma by Jane Austen

August 10
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

October 12
The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James

December 14
Lady Susan by Jane Austen

2007

February 11
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

April 15
Hotel du Lac and A Misalliance by Anita Brookner

June 10
Persuasion by Jane Austen

August 5
Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

October 21
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

December 16
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

2006

February 5
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

May 7
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

July 9
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

August 13
The Watsons and Sanditon by Jane Austen

October 15
Unnatural Causes by P.D. James

December 17
A History of England by Jane Austen

2005

February 13
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

April 10
Emma by Jane Austen

June 26
An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde
Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

August 14
Jane Austen’s Letters

November 6
The Loved One and Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

December 11
Jane Austen birthday celebration

2004

February 15
Middlemarch by George Eliot

April 18
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

June 27
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

August 29
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen

October 27
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers

December 12
Lady Susan by Jane Austen

2003

February 23
The Warden by Anthony Trollope

May 4
Persuasion by Jane Austen

June 22
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

August 17
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

October 12
Vanity Fair by William Thackeray

December 14
Jane Austen birthday celebration

2002

February 10
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding

May 5
Emma by Jane Austen

June 30
Poor Emma by Reginald Hill
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia by Samuel Johnson

August 11
The Watsons and Sanditon by Jane Austen
Surrogate Parents by Sue Bain

October 6
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

December 15
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

2001

January 7
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

March 11
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

May 20
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
The Janeites by Rudyard Kipling

July 29
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

October 14
Manservant and Maidservant by Ivy Compton-Burnett

December 16
Jane Austen birthday celebration

2000

January 23
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

March 26
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft

June 4
Persuasion by Jane Austen

August 13
The Post Captain by Patrick O’Brian

October 29
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

1999

February 11
Juvenilia by Jane Austen

April 11
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool

July 18
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

August 9
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

September 26
The School for Scandal by Richard Sheridan

November 21
Emma by Jane Austen

1998

January 6
Persuasion by Jane Austen

February 1
Jane Austen’s Letters

April 5
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

October 11
Letters to Alice by Fay Weldon

December 13
Emma by Jane Austen

1997

January 26
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

February 16
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

March 2
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

March 16
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

April 6
Emma by Jane Austen

May 4
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

May 18
Persuasion by Jane Austen

June 1
Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sanditon by Jane Austen

July 20
Evelina by Fanny Burney

September 28
Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft

December 7
Sanditon by Jane Austen
Surrogate Parents by Sue Bain

1996

February 18
Persuasion by Jane Austen

April 18
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

July 21
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

November 24
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen