Greater Sacramento Women's Book Club

MIDTOWN October 2026 — All the Colors of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker

Wed, Oct 21 · 6:30 PM PDT

Time Tested Books, 1114 21st St, Sacramento, CA, US

📖 Why this book? 📖

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD • FROM THE AUTHOR OF WE BEGIN AT THE END COMES A SOARING THRILLER AND AN EPIC LOVE STORY THAT "HITS LIKE A SLEDGEHAM-MER... AN ABSOLUTELY MUST-READ NOVEL" (GILLIAN FLYNN, AUTHOR OF GONE GIRL).
Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today
A Best Book of the Year: Washington Post, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews

"Kept me frantically turning the pages and somehow made me cry at the end...
Brava!" — Kristin Hannah, author of The Women

"Melds tense suspense with a powerful exploration of devotion, obsession, and love." — People

Hard to find a book? Suggest a title or use Zip Books at your local library.

💠 What can I expect? 💠

We will meet in-person after hours in Time Tested Books. Front door will be unlocked, and staff will point the way.

💬 We catch up socially;
🧊 we recommend a book or author, and
📕 we start our book discussion at 7pm.

👜 WHAT DO I BRING? 👜

◾️A snack or drink to share
◾️$5 (cash or Venmo *8913)
◾️And you could bring your book 😄

✴️ Event Fee Details ✴️

The $5 is split between our access to this Meetup platform and our access to the meeting location.

You can venmo me (https://venmo.com/u/Rebecca-Bon *8913) or bring cash.

However❕We would never want you to miss a book club discussion because of the $5, so please message me if you have any concerns

Thanks, and see you all soon!

📚 ** BOOK SUMMARY ** 📚

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the smalltown of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.
When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges - Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.
Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.
A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession and the blinding light of hope.
REVIEWS
Kirkus Reviews * Publisher's Weekly
AudioFile Magazine

GRANITE BAY October 2026 — All the Colors of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker

Thu, Oct 22 · 6:00 PM PDT

Raley's, 6845 Douglas Blvd., Granite Bay, CA, 6845 Douglas Blvd. (Corner of Douglas & Auburn-Folsom Rd), Granite Bay, CA, US

📖 Why this book? 📖

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD • FROM THE AUTHOR OF WE BEGIN AT THE END COMES A SOARING THRILLER AND AN EPIC LOVE STORY THAT "HITS LIKE A SLEDGEHAMMER... AN ABSOLUTELY MUST-READ NOVEL" (GILLIAN FLYNN, AUTHOR OF GONE GIRL).
Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today
A Best Book of the Year: Washington Post, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews

"Kept me frantically turning the pages and somehow made me cry at the end...
Brava!" — Kristin Hannah, author of The Women

"Melds tense suspense with a powerful exploration of devotion, obsession, and love." — People

Hard to find a book? Suggest a title or use Zip Books at your local library.

💠 What can I expect? 💠

We will meet in-person in the ‘Gather Room’ at the back left of the store.

💬 We catch up socially;
🧊 we recommend a book or author, and
📕 we start our book discussion at 6:30pm.

👜 WHAT DO I BRING? 👜

◾️A Raley’s snack or bev to share
◾️$5 (cash or Venmo *8913)
◾️And you could bring your book 😄

✴️ Event Fee Details ✴️

The $5 is split between our access to this Meetup platform and our access to the meeting location.

You can venmo me (https://venmo.com/u/Rebecca-Bon *8913) or bring cash.

However❕We would never want you to miss a book club discussion because of the $5, so please message me if you have any concerns

Thanks, and see you all soon!

📚 BOOK SUMMARY 📚

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the smalltown of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.
When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges - Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.
Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.
A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession and the blinding light of hope.
REVIEWS
Kirkus Reviews * Publisher's Weekly
AudioFile Magazine

MIDTOWN November 2026 — Cue the Sun! by Emily Nussbaum

Wed, Nov 18 · 6:30 PM PST

Time Tested Books, 1114 21st St, Sacramento, CA, US

📖 Why this book? 📖

The rollicking saga of reality television, a
"sweeping" (The Washington Post) cultural history of America's most influential, most divisive artistic phenomenon, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker writer — "a must-read for anyone interested in television or popular culture" (NPR)
"Passionate, exquisitely told... With muscular prose and an exacting eye for detail...
[Nussbaum] knits her talents for sharp analysis and telling reportage well." — The New York Times (Editors' Choice)
In development as a docuseries from the studio behind Spencer and Spotlight
ONE OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE AND THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, NPR, THE NEW YORKER, VANITY FAIR, THE BOSTON GLOBE

FINALIST FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION

Hard to find a book? Suggest a title or use Zip Books at your local library.

💠 What can I expect? 💠

We will meet in-person after hours in Time Tested Books. Front door willl be unlocked, and staff will point the way.

💬 We catch up socially;
🧊 we recommend a book or author, and
📕 we start our book discussion at 7pm.

👜 WHAT DO I BRING? 👜

◾️A snack or drink to share
◾️$5 (cash or Venmo *8913)
◾️And you could bring your book 😄

✴️ Event Fee Details ✴️

The $5 is split between our access to this Meetup platform and our access to the meeting location.

You can venmo me (https://venmo.com/u/Rebecca-Bon *8913) or bring cash.

However❕We would never want you to miss a book club discussion because of the $5, so please message me if you have any concerns.

Thanks, and see you all soon!

📚 ** BOOK SUMMARY ** 📚

Who invented reality television, the world's most dangerous pop-culture genre? And why can't we look away? In this revelatory, deeply reported account of the rise of "dirty documentary" — from its contentious roots in radio to the ascent of Donald Trump — Emily Nussbaum unearths the origin story of the genre that ate the world, as told through the lively voices of the people who built it. At once gimlet-eyed and empathetic, Cue the Sun! explores the morally charged, funny, and sometimes tragic consequences of the hunt for something real inside something fake.

In sharp, absorbing prose, Nussbaum traces the jagged fuses of experimentation that exploded with Survivor at the turn of the millennium. She introduces the genre's trickster pioneers, from the icy Allen Funt to the shambolic Chuck Barris;
Cops auteur John Langley; cynical Bachelor ringmaster Mike Fleiss; and Jon Murray and Mary-Ellis Bunim, the visionaries behind The Real World — along with dozens of stars from An American Family, The Real World, Big Brother, Survivor, and The Bachelor. We learn about the tools of the trade - like the Frankenbite, a deceptive editor's best friend - and ugly tales of exploitation. But Cue the Sun! also celebrates reality's peculiar power: a jolt of emotion that could never have come from a script.

What happened to the first reality stars, the Louds — and why won't they speak to the couple who filmed them? Which serial killer won on The Dating Game? Nussbaum explores reality TV as a strike-breaker, the queer roots of Bravo, the dark truth behind The Apprentice, and more. A shrewd observer who adores television, Nussbaum is the ideal voice for the first substantive history of the genre that, for better or worse, made America what it is today.

GRANITE BAY November 2026 — Cue the Sun! by Emily Nussbaum

Thu, Nov 19 · 6:00 PM PST

Raley's, 6845 Douglas Blvd., Granite Bay, CA, 6845 Douglas Blvd. (Corner of Douglas & Auburn-Folsom Rd), Granite Bay, CA, US

📖 Why this book? 📖

The rollicking saga of reality television, a
"sweeping" (The Washington Post) cultural history of America's most influential, most divisive artistic phenomenon, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker writer — "a must-read for anyone interested in television or popular culture" (NPR)
"Passionate, exquisitely told... With muscular prose and an exacting eye for detail...
[Nussbaum] knits her talents for sharp analysis and telling reportage well." — The New York Times (Editors' Choice)
In development as a docuseries from the studio behind Spencer and Spotlight
ONE OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE AND THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, NPR, THE NEW YORKER, VANITY FAIR, THE BOSTON GLOBE

FINALIST FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION

Hard to find a book? Suggest a title or use Zip Books at your local library.

💠 What can I expect? 💠

We will meet in-person in the ‘Gather Room’ at the back left of the store.

💬 We catch up socially;
🧊 we recommend a book or author, and
📕 we start our book discussion at 6:30pm.

👜 WHAT DO I BRING? 👜

◾️A Raley’s snack or bev to share
◾️$5 (cash or Venmo *8913)
◾️And you could bring your book 😄

✴️ Event Fee Details ✴️

The $5 is split between our access to this Meetup platform and our access to the meeting location.

You can venmo me (https://venmo.com/u/Rebecca-Bon *8913) or bring cash.

However❕We would never want you to miss a book club discussion because of the $5, so please message me if you have any concerns.

Thanks, and see you all soon!

📚 ** BOOK SUMMARY ** 📚

Who invented reality television, the world's most dangerous pop-culture genre? And why can't we look away? In this revelatory, deeply reported account of the rise of "dirty documentary" — from its contentious roots in radio to the ascent of Donald Trump — Emily Nussbaum unearths the origin story of the genre that ate the world, as told through the lively voices of the people who built it. At once gimlet-eyed and empathetic, Cue the Sun! explores the morally charged, funny, and sometimes tragic consequences of the hunt for something real inside something fake.

In sharp, absorbing prose, Nussbaum traces the jagged fuses of experimentation that exploded with Survivor at the turn of the millennium. She introduces the genre's trickster pioneers, from the icy Allen Funt to the shambolic Chuck Barris;
Cops auteur John Langley; cynical Bachelor ringmaster Mike Fleiss; and Jon Murray and Mary-Ellis Bunim, the visionaries behind The Real World — along with dozens of stars from An American Family, The Real World, Big Brother, Survivor, and The Bachelor. We learn about the tools of the trade - like the Frankenbite, a deceptive editor's best friend - and ugly tales of exploitation. But Cue the Sun! also celebrates reality's peculiar power: a jolt of emotion that could never have come from a script.

What happened to the first reality stars, the Louds — and why won't they speak to the couple who filmed them? Which serial killer won on The Dating Game? Nussbaum explores reality TV as a strike-breaker, the queer roots of Bravo, the dark truth behind The Apprentice, and more. A shrewd observer who adores television, Nussbaum is the ideal voice for the first substantive history of the genre that, for better or worse, made America what it is today.