AMS Book Club - April

Join us for April Book Club - New Members are always welcome!

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Tuesday, April 21, 8pm

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, NPR, Good Housekeeping, Them, Marie Claire, Book Riot,

Library Journal, Chicago Public Library, She Reads

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and

reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University

and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement

seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be

one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at

Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun

pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easygoing even when the stakes

are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted

Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and

mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a

passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she

thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting

readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and

soaring story about the transformative power of love—this time among the stars.

Host: Sherry J’s home (NW Rochester) or over Zoom for those who prefer, email

sharontjoyce@gmail.com for information and to RSVP.