The ASPP Jackie Hott Memorial Book Club
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ASPP is proud to support the Jackie Hott Memorial Book Club. Book club members, both old and new, run the book club. Meetings are held throughout the year, usually on Sunday evenings. At the end of each meeting, book club members select the book to be discussed at the next gathering. Book Club meetings have traditionally been in person, but have continued during the pandemic virtually.
Please email asppbookclub@gmail.com or click here for information about the next meeting. All are welcome!
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History
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The ASPP Jackie Hott Memorial Book Club has been in existence for over ten years. Initially, members rotated homes for each meeting, until Jackie Hott offered to hold it at her house indefinitely. Jackie had an enormous dining room, which served the book club well, as an important component of the meetings was a potluck dinner. Some members were known for their special salads and desserts, and wine was always served. After Jackie’s death in 2016, the club met at the home of former ASPP President, Joyce Bloom. Since the pandemic began, it has continued via Zoom.
The book club was conceived to be a forum to discuss popular best selling novels with a psychoanalytic bend. Usually, the chosen work is fiction, but every now and then a nonfiction work is selected. Texts and theoretical works are not chosen in the spirit of the book club being a social, not professional, forum.
“I just want to be Jackie Hott when I grow up.”
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-Dr. Joyce Bloom, Book Club Member and former ASPP President
Dr. Jackie Hott, PhD
Dr. Jackie Hott was a nurse, professor of nursing, sex therapist and psychoanalyst. She joined our Postgraduate community in 1981 when she began training to become a certified psychoanalyst. Eventually she became the Dean of Adelphi’s School of Nursing.
As stated in her New York Times obituary, “Dr. Hott was the original independent professional woman. She kept up her demanding sex therapy and psychotherapy practice right up to the end. Retirement was a dirty word. Working six-days a week, ten to twelve hours a day, without much sleep or even food, was typical for her. If she could have died in her office just after seeing a patient she would have preferred that.”
Book Club members remember her as glamorous, generous and brilliant.
She was excited to join and attend meetings when the group began in 2010 as she had never attended a book club. Jackie was legally blind during the time she attended and had to listen to each book on audio. Members remember that, despite this limitation, she would come to book club gatherings knowing more about each work than anyone else.
ASPP is proud to honor Jackie Hott’s spirit through the ASPP Jackie Hott Memorial Book Club.
Book club members kicked off 2021 with a January 31st meeting during which Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye was discussed. Although book club members look forward to meeting in person again soon, they are happy that, for now, the book club can continue through Zoom!
The ASPP Jackie Hott Memorial Book Club had a warm and lively in-person meeting on September 19, 2021 in Dr. Joyce Bloom's beautiful backyard. It was wonderful to see everyone in person after so many zoom meetings. We had a couple of new members attend along with our seasoned members. After introductions, we enjoyed a delicious homemade potluck dinner and a rich discussion of Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemme. Surprisingly, everyone really liked the book--a rare occurrence!
The book club will return to Zoom for its winter meeting on Sunday, January 23 from 5:00-6:30 pm. Members chose the novel, The Last Thing He Told Me, by Laura Dave to discuss at this meeting.
All are welcome and encouraged to attend. Please RSVP by sending an email to:
If you would like to learn more about the ASPP Jackie Hott Memorial Book Club, please email asppbookclub@gmail.com
The ASPP Jackie Hott Memorial Book Club has been busy reading some great books in 2021-2022! Take a look at their selections below.
