Book Clubs

Overview

This page will continue to be updated as new book clubs form.

INCLUSIVE

Fall 2026 Book Club Faculty Learning Community

Facilitated by: Dr. Sapna Chopra, Associate Professor, Department of Human Services

Join us for the Fall 2026 book club where we’ll read What we don’t talk about when we talk about fat by Aubrey Gordon and Big girl by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan. This faculty book club will provide a space for participants to reflect on what these books teach us about sizeism, fat shaming, and other intersecting forms of oppression, as well as how we can resist harmful messages about bodies and belonging. We’ll discuss how these themes connect to our work at CSUF in the classroom, with colleagues, and in the larger community.

This Faculty Learning Community (FLC) consists of six, 90-minute virtual meetings with each meeting worth 1.5 credits towards the FDC INCLUSIVE certificate on diversity and inclusion in teaching. The FDC will provide the books.  

Meetings are on the following Fridays from 1:00-2:30 PM on Zoom:

• Sept 25
• Oct 9
• Oct 23
• Nov 6
• Nov 20
• Dec 4

Book Descriptions:

• In What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat, Aubrey Gordon unpacks anti-fat cultural messages and systems and invites us to shift how way we see, talk about, and treat bodies.
• Big Girl , a novel by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan, is a coming-of-age story of Malaya, a Black girl growing up in rapidly gentrifying Harlem in the 1990s. Struggling with body image from a young age, Malaya faces constant pressure to lose weight from her mother and grandmother while navigating expectations related to gender, race, and class.  

Registration

Register using the Fall 2026 Book Club FLC registration form.  If the group fills, please email [email protected] to be added to a waitlist.

MINDFUL

Fall 2026 Book Club: Hustle, Flow, or Let it Go?

Facilitated by: Dr. Portia Jackson Preston, Associate Professor, Department of Public Health

Join us for the Fall 2026 MINDFUL book club where we'll read Hustle, Flow, or Let It Go?: A Guide to Shame-Free Wellness That Honors Your Reality and Gives You Life by Dr. Portia Jackson Preston, Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health. 

This is not about productivity or performative wellness. This is about unraveling the shame we carry when we fall short of unrealistic expectations, and acknowledging the factors outside of our control that undermine our best efforts to care for ourselves.

We will discuss personal and professional wellness through the lens of identity and lived experience, and explore how individual wellness can fuel the collective through shared humanity, connection, and compassion in the classroom, with colleagues, and in the larger community.

The book is composed of 3 to 5 page mini-retreats designed to meet you in daily life, with accessible practices to stabilize your foundation across health, relationships, roles, and responsibilities while navigating uncertainty and change. It offers a blueprint for restoring connection at individual and collective levels, reminding you that you are not alone.

New this fall, the book club follows a flexible hybrid format paced to the rhythm of the semester. Three live Friday sessions follow the arc of the book: HUSTLE in September, FLOW in October, and LET IT GO in November. Each meeting worth 1.5 credits towards the FDC MINDFUL certificate on wellness and mindful practices. The FDC will provide the books.

Between sessions, we will read the book together and complete short asynchronous modules for each chapter.

Meetings are on the following Fridays from 11:30 AM–1:00 PM in person:

• September 18
• October 16
• November 20

The four short  asynchronous modules aimed to help facilitate learning and discussion are open as follows:

• September 1-30, 2026
• October 1-31, 2026
• November 2-30, 2026
• December 1-19, 2026

Eligibility

Book Club activities, and resources are open and available to all who are interested in applying and/or participating, regardless of race, sex, color, ethnicity, national origin, or any other protected status.