MONROE — In October 1929, the same month as the infamous stock market crash that preceded the Great Depression, the Lida Ludlow Reading Club met in Monroe for the first time. Before it took the name of its illustrious founder, however, it was known simply as the Wednesday Reading Club. This month, the club’s current members are celebrating its 90th anniversary.

The traditional image of a book club tends to be of several people reading the same book and then gathering to discuss it, but that’s not how it works at the Lida Ludlow Reading Club. 

Instead, one member each month does a book review of a book she has read, presenting it to the group. And the possibilities are endless. Her selection can be anything from a modern work to a childhood favorite.

“That way we get more of a cross-section,” said club president Jean Tullet, who has been a member of the club since at least 1989. She said as far as she knows the club has always been structured that way. 

That reading philosophy would mesh with what the Monroe Evening Times said about Ludlow when she passed away in 1936.

“Possessed of a mind always alert, of depth and wide explorative tendencies, Mrs. Ludlow was a personality to reckon with, for her interests were wide-flung and her contacts varied,” the memorial read. 

Ludlow was a pillar of the community in Monroe, and besides the reading club, the lengthy and laudatory obituary mentioned her involvement in the Women’s Relief Corps, 50 years teaching Sunday school, and how she championed public kindergarten as a member of the school board.

This month, members will gather at the Ludlow Mansion to reflect on the club’s history and the reading of a favorite essay of Ludlow’s, called “Youth.” 

To join, new members must be invited by a current member. That was the case for Pat Ottaway, who joined three years ago after being invited by Tullet and Nanette Brachear. 

Ottaway hosted the club’s most recent gathering at her Romanesque home last month, just down the street from where Ludlow once lived, welcoming club members with an autumn spread including apple cider, pretzel bites and apples with caramel dip.  

October was Tullet’s turn for a book review, and she presented on “The Harvey House Cookbook: Memories of Dining Along the Santa Fe Railroad,” by George H. Foster and Peter C. Weiglin. 

Helen Johnson, 99, said she’s been a member of the club for about 60 years.

“Jean is the one that has kept the whole thing moving,” said Johnson.

“It’s my passion,” said Tullet. “It’s a priority with me.”