It’s been a busy couple of weeks.

First, by popular demand, I’ve rolled out audio versions of some short stories. You can listen to them in the car or while exercising. They can be found at this link on my website.

Second, some of my readers may not know, or may have trouble believing, that I am part of a book club that has been going on for twenty-five years. It is called The Austin Athenaeum and last week we had our 300th meeting. I manage the website for the group at austinathenaeum.com

I’ve not been very consistent with writing posts on the blog, but this week I’ve written two. You can read them both at the link above.

The first post is about the book we discussed at our 300th anniversary, the 1965 novel by John Williams called Stoner. It’s about a college professor in the early 20th century named William Stoner, so it’s not what you may be thinking.

The second post is a commemoration of the 300th meeting, featuring some personal reflections, memories, and photographs of past meetings.

The website includes a spreadsheet of every book we’ve read over the past 25 years. There is a write-up of our rules and procedures. There is an archive of essays written by our members pertaining to books that we have read.

And there is an apologia of sorts for the prickly fact that it is a men-only book club. It’s all men, and almost everyone reads the books every month; the commitment is strong.

I am happy to share the fact of the existence of the club to those who were not aware. If you’d like to subscribe to the book club mailing list, send me an email and I’ll add you.