The January meeting of the Bibliophiles will take place Tuesday, January 20 at 6:30PM via ZOOM. The group will be discussing The Boys of Riverside by Thomas Fuller

"In November 2021, an obscure email from the California Department of Education landed in New York Times reporter, Thomas Fuller’s, inbox. The football team at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside, a state-run school with only 168 high school students, was having an undefeated season. After years of covering war, wildfires, pandemic, and mass shootings, Fuller was captivated by the story of this group of high school boys. It was uplifting. During the gloom of the pandemic, it was a happy story. It was a sports story but not an ordinary one, built on the chemistry between a group of underestimated boys and their superhero advocate coach, Keith Adams, a deaf former athlete himself. The team, and Adams, tackled the many stereotypes and seemed to be succeeding. Fuller packed his bags and drove seven hours to the Riverside campus.

The Boys of Riverside looks back at the historic 2021 and 2022 seasons in which the California School for the Deaf chased history. It follows the personal journeys of their dynamic deaf head coach, and a student who spent the majority of the season sleeping in his father’s car in the Target parking lot. It tells the story of a fiercely committed player who literally played through a broken leg in order not to miss a crucial game, as well as myriad other heart-wrenching and uplifting narratives of players who found common purpose. Through their eyes, Fuller reveals a portrait of high school athletics, inspiring camaraderie, and deafness in America."

Contact Fred Adams or the Parish Office for details on participating with the Bibliophiles.

Fred Adams penned the following invitation to encourage all of us to participate in the Bibliophile's Book Club:

"We the members of the mighty Bibliophiles Book Club of Saint Matthias humbly invite you to join us. Recognizing how busy we all are in our daily lives and work, we have changed our meetings from every month to every 6 weeks beginning on June 3rd. Whew! I feel relieved already. Now that we have more breathing room perhaps more folks can break free for some refreshing conversations and fellowship. We will still meet at 6:30 pm on Zoom. 

The meetings are pretty lively and let me publish once again this well-known fact. You do not have to have read the book! What? -- a book club meeting without having read the book? Yes, indeed. And here's why. While the conversation starts out with a discussion about the book, it inevitably evolves into the larger issues brought out by the author; topics about which each of us often have something to add. So, there is something for everyone!"

Contact Fred or the Parish Office for details on participating with the Bibliophiles.

"Oh the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!"

Dr. Seuss