A book club launched in 2025!

With all the recent changes and uncertainty in the world, I wanted to bring people together and chat about bold memoirs by women who defied societal expectations. Books that incite us to think about what makes an empowered woman. What choices do they make or fail to make? How do they recover and become who they want to be?

I co-host the book club with my mother and fellow memoirist, Dr Djenane Nakhle, who published her memoir, Finding Home: From Cairo to New York in December 2024. You can view our interview here.

Join our private Facebook group for meeting information and online joining details or contact me at joelle@joelletamraz.com.

About the Book Club

Meetings take place about once a month. We aim to read memoirs written by women of different cultures, identities and points of view. The common thread is making bold choices, defying patriarchal expectations, and finding one's voice in the pursuit of freedom, agency, and power.

Upcoming Meetings – 1PM EST / 6PM UK time

November 5 - Uncultured by Daniella Mestyanek Young

December 3 - Camouflage: How I Emerged from the Shadows of a Military Marriage by Heather Sweeney

Previous Meetings

February 27 - Finding Home: From Cairo to New York by Djenane Nakhle

April 30 - Growth: A Mother, Her Son, and the Brain Tumor They Survived by Karen DeBonis

June 25 - A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy by Tia Levings

July 22 (Tuesday) - Henry's Classroom: A Special Education in American Motherhood by Amy Mackin

August 27 (Wednesday) - The Secret Practice: Eighteen Years on the Dark Side of Yoga by Joelle Tamraz

October 8 - Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman

Reading Suggestions:

Manifesto on Never Giving Up by Bernadine Evaristo

The Only Way Through Is Out by Suzette Mullen

The Race to Be Myself by Caster Semenya

I Am a Girl from Africa by Elizabeth Nyamayaro

Worthy: From Cornfields to Corner Office of Microsoft by Jane Boulware