Earth Care Book Club Discussion on January 4

Earth Care Book Club Discussion
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
11:30 a.m. on Sunday, January 4, 2026
Little Sanctuary

On the first Sunday in the new year, January 4th, after the service, come join us in the Little Sanctuary for a discussion of Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. This is our first work of fiction and it includes climate change as a critical element of the story line. It’s a look at one possible future through the lens of the past and present.

Anthony Doerr won the Pulitzer Prize for his earlier work, All the Light We Cannot See, which was set in World War II. The book we are reading this month, Cloud Cuckoo Land, is a similarly braided story that follows several different groups of characters which all coalesce as the book reaches its conclusion. In this book, the story lines occur in 3 different time periods: an undetermined time in the future, our current time, and the 15th century.

What will the human response to climate change eventually be? What’s your reaction to Doerr’s depiction of the future? Do you think his vision of the future is rational? How does Cloud Cuckoo Land affect your thoughts about climate change and about where we’re heading? Are you left feeling more or less hopeful?

This IS a long book at 622 pages, but it has received a 4.25/5.00 rating on Goodreads and the story has stayed with Cynthia long after she originally read it several years ago.  

We hope you’ll join us in our discussion of Cloud Cuckoo Land, even if you haven’t read the book yet. If you have read the book, we look forward to hearing your thoughts about this exploration of how climate change will affect our future, how it’s affecting our current time, and how the past continues to influence us over time. Hope to see you there!