Jackson Free Press

The Purple Word Book Club brings a fabulous big-city art scene to midtown.

"The theme for this spring will be the Manhattan art world or art scene in general," says Anna Vining, the book club's facilitator. "We will be (reading) biographies about artists, their memoirs and even fiction, but still centered around the Manhattan art world."

At the book club's first meeting, the group discussed Patti Smith's memoir, "Just Kids," which revolves around her relationship with controversial artist Robert Mapplethorpe. The group plans to continue discussing "Just Kids" at the March meeting. Purple Word founder Sandra Murchison emphasizes that bibliophiles don't need to have read the whole book—just come where you are for discussion and fellowship.

After taking the journey with Patti Smith, the book club plans to read and discuss Steve Martin's novel, "An Object of Beauty," about a woman climbing the art business ladder during the late '90s and the 2000s.

"We are excited about doing a book club at Purple Word because it is a book arts and paper arts center, and it helps to promotes literacy," Vining says. "It also gets more people involved with the Purple Word Book Center to make it more of a community-based center."

The book club meets from 1-4 p.m. every third Sunday at the Purple Word Center for Book & Paper Arts (140 Wesley Ave.). Meetings are free for members, and non-members pay a one-time annual fee of $5. Ages 16 and up. The club is BYOB (bring your own book). Email [email protected]. Visit purpleword.org.