Taylor Jenkins Reid‘s 2025 novel, “Atmosphere,” (also available in digital formats) will be the subject of the First Thursday Book Discussion on August 6 at the Columbia Public Library. In her 2022 book, “Carrie Soto is Back,” Reid took a public subject — aging in the world of professional sports, particularly tennis — and gave it a personal dimension. The story of “Daisy Jones and the Six” brought the 60s and 70s culture and rock scene up close and personal.
This time around, Reid has tackled 1980s NASA space shuttle program. Protagonist Joan Goodwin is a straight-laced professor of astronomy and physics. She has a comfortable life with two loves, the stars and her niece. But a fire is lit under her when she sees an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join the NASA shuttle program.
Finding community, friendship, love and passion within NASA transforms Joan. She finds her voice and her place in the universe, only to have it all change in an instant during one mission in 1984.
Reid’s stories are always engaging and hard to put down. “Atmosphere,” is no exception. The story is gritty and gripping. The characters are complex, imperfect and loveable. One the surface “Atmosphere” is entertaining, but the plot rests upon deeper themes of feminism, sexuality and the human quest to know the universe.
Read “Atmosphere” this month and bring your questions on the meaning of life and our place in the universe to the Children’s Programming room in the Columbia Public Library at noon on August 6.
