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Spartan Book Club

Spartan Book Club

Connect with Spartans and friends in a vibrant online community united by a love of reading. Join engaging discussions on a variety of topics — from the comfort of your own space. It’s easy to participate; simply borrow the book from your library or purchase a copy.

With a new book selection every two months and the flexibility to join or skip sessions as you like, this offers a fun, low-pressure way to stay connected with and inspired by fellow Spartans.

Join the Club
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Current Book: "The Mango Tree" by Annabelle Tometich - Amazon says "This 'witty, humorous and heartfelt' (Cinelle Barnes) memoir navigates the tangled branches of Annabelle Tometich’s life, from growing up in Florida as the child of a Filipino mother and a deceased white father to her adult life as a med-school-reject-turned-food-critic."

About the Club

There are no meetings — participate whenever and wherever it’s convenient for you! As long as you have internet access, you can join the discussion. See the details below to learn more about how the program works.

  • This is a flexible, online forum moderated by the professionally managed book club organization, PBC Guru.
  • Discussions, networking and questions take place in a private forum, with weekly emails guiding the conversation.
  • Members can join discussions, share insights and participate by borrowing or purchasing the book.
  • A new book is selected every two months through a group vote, but participation is optional.
  • Even if you’ve read the book before, engaging with the Spartan community offers fresh perspectives and meaningful discussions.
Join the Club

Have a suggestion for a book you'd like us to consider reading? Email Elizabeth Wheeler. Our preferred genres are fiction, historical fiction, mystery/thriller, biography and history.

When journalist Annabelle Tometich picks up the phone one June morning, she isn’t expecting a collect call from an inmate at the Lee County Jail. And when she accepts, she certainly isn’t prepared to hear her mother’s voice on the other end of the line. However, explaining the situation to her younger siblings afterwards was easy; all she had to say was, “Mom shot at some guy. He was messing with her mangoes.” They immediately understood. Answering the questions of the breaking-news reporter — at the same newspaper where Annabelle worked as a restaurant critic — proved more difficult. Annabelle decided to go with a variation of the truth: it was complicated.

So begins The Mango Tree, a poignant and deceptively entertaining memoir of growing up as a mixed-race Filipina “nobody” in suburban Florida as Annabelle traces the roots of her upbringing — all the while reckoning with her erratic father’s untimely death in a Fort Myers motel, her fiery mother’s bitter yearning for the country she left behind, and her own journey in the pursuit of belonging.

With clear-eyed compassion and piercing honesty, The Mango Tree is a family saga that navigates the tangled branches of Annabelle’s life, from her childhood days in an overflowing house flooded by balikbayan boxes, vegetation and juicy mangoes, to her winding path from medical school hopeful to restaurant critic. It is a love letter to her fellow Filipino Americans, her lost younger self and the beloved fruit tree at the heart of her family. But above all, it is an ode to Annabelle’s hot-blooded, whip-smart mother Josefina, a woman who made a life and a home of her own, and without whom Annabelle would not have herself.

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Are you a Spartan Author?

We’d love to hear from you! We're compiling a list of Spartan authors and their book(s) to share. To provide your information, email Elizabeth Wheeler.

In fairness to all Spartan authors, please understand that we currently do not plan to feature any Spartan authors as a book club selection.