A Girl & A Gun Announces 2027 Book Club Selections

Twelve Books. Twelve Values. A Year of Conversations Worth Having.

A Girl & A Gun (AG & AG) has announced its 2027 Book Club selections, featuring 12 books to educate, challenge, and inspire meaningful conversations among members.

Some of the most important skills a woman develops will never appear on a shooting qualification. Judgment matters. Awareness matters. Confidence, curiosity, adaptability, and the ability to make good decisions when circumstances are complicated all influence how effectively a woman navigates the world. Training develops physical skills, but becoming truly capable also requires developing the person making the decisions.

That is the idea behind the AG & AG Book Club.

Each year, President & CEO Robyn Sandoval selects books that expand the conversation beyond the range, exploring self-defense, mindset, marksmanship, preparedness, leadership, psychology, decision-making, personal development, and other subjects relevant to women’s lives. As an annual Book Club tradition, each selection is paired with one of AG & AG’s monthly values, creating a framework for members to consider not only what an author has to say, but why those ideas matter and how they can be applied.

The 2027 list is intentionally broad because capable women need broad knowledge. The selections examine human behavior and critical incidents, confidence and creativity, time and emotional energy, adaptability and history. There is even a psychological thriller grounded in real-world issues of stalking and legal vulnerability. Some books will reinforce what readers already know, while others may challenge assumptions, and both experiences have value.

Book Club Facilitator Sheila Farr believes that range will make for compelling conversations throughout the year.

“I absolutely LOVE the overall 2027 book selections!” Sheila said. “I think there’s a wonderful mix of leadership, personal growth, psychology, communication, preparedness, and thought-provoking ideas. I especially like how the books align with each month’s theme and give us opportunities to connect what we’re reading to our personal and professional lives.”

The 2027 A Girl & A Gun Book Club Reading List

January | Accepting

How Great Ideas Happen by George Newman

Being Accepting begins with recognizing that a good idea does not have to originate with us to have value. How Great Ideas Happen explores creativity, ideas, and the conditions that allow innovation to emerge, making it a fitting way to begin a year of reading together. Intellectual growth requires enough confidence to examine new information, consider unfamiliar approaches, and occasionally allow a better idea to replace an old one.

February | Gracious

The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins

Being Gracious is relatively easy when everyone behaves the way we think they should; the greater test comes when they do not. The Let Them Theory explores the freedom that can come from allowing other people to make their own choices while taking responsibility for our own responses. The lesson is particularly relevant to boundaries, relationships, and leadership, where strength and graciousness are not opposites but complementary qualities.

March | Impactful

The Dark Side of Man by Michael Ghiglieri

Knowledge becomes Impactful when it changes what we recognize and what we do with that understanding. The Dark Side of Man examines aggression and violence through the lens of human behavior, bringing uncomfortable but relevant questions into the personal-safety conversation. Understanding the behavioral forces associated with violence can influence how a woman recognizes warning signs, assesses risk, establishes boundaries, and prepares to respond.

April | Real

First 30-Seconds by Ed Monk

Being Real requires us to prepare for what can actually happen rather than what we would prefer to happen. First 30-Seconds examines the earliest moments of a critical incident, when events move quickly and assumptions can prove costly. Honest preparation begins by acknowledging that emergencies are chaotic, decisions may be imperfect, and reality will not organize itself around our training plan.

May | Learning

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

The more we Learn about how the mind works, the better equipped we become to recognize when it may be working against us. Thinking, Fast and Slow examines the processes behind judgment, risk assessment, assumptions, biases, and decision-making. For women who train to make consequential decisions under pressure, understanding how information is processed is not simply intellectually interesting; it can change how we approach practice, preparation, and performance.

June | Adventurous

You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero

Being Adventurous requires enough confidence to move beyond the familiar and find out what else might be possible. You Are a Badass asks readers to examine limiting beliefs and pursue their goals with greater intention. That idea will feel familiar to many AG & AG members because adventures often begin with a decision to try something intimidating: attending the first event, taking the next class, entering a competition, traveling somewhere new, or simply discovering that the boundaries we assumed were fixed can move.

July | Noteworthy

Dawn Before Darkness by Liz Lazarus

Being Noteworthy means recognizing the stories, warning signs, and lessons that deserve our attention. In Dawn Before Darkness, Liz Lazarus uses fiction to explore realities that extend far beyond the page, including stalking, its emotional toll on victims, legal vulnerabilities, and the consequences that can follow when systems intended to protect people fall short. Drawing from research, interviews with stalking survivors, and experiences from her own guardianship battle, Lazarus brings real-world concerns into a psychological thriller. The result reminds us why stories can be powerful: they can make an issue personal enough that we pay attention to what we might otherwise overlook.

August | Determined

1of100 Deliberate Responder Adaptive Movement by Jim Shanahan

Being Determined is not simply refusing to quit. It is continuing to work the problem when the first solution does not work. 1of100 Deliberate Responder Adaptive Movement examines deliberate response, movement, and purposeful action, reinforcing the importance of remaining mentally engaged as circumstances evolve. Determination becomes especially valuable under pressure when persistence must be paired with judgment rather than stubbornly repeating an approach that is no longer effective.

September | Adaptable

A Guide to Improvised Weaponry by Terry Schappert and Adam Slutsky

Being Adaptable is essential because dynamic self-defense situations rarely happen the way we expect them to. Training gives us a foundation, but a real encounter will not necessarily begin at the distance we practiced, provide the time we anticipated, or leave our preferred defensive tool within reach. Sometimes the best available option is an ordinary object already in the environment.

A Guide to Improvised Weaponry encourages readers to see those surroundings differently and recognize how impromptu tools may become part of a defensive response. The larger lesson is not about memorizing a list of objects; it is about developing the mindset to keep assessing, thinking, and solving the problem with the resources available. When protecting yourself or someone you love, adaptability may be the skill that allows all the others to remain useful.

October | Generous

I Know How She Does It by Laura Vanderkam

Being Generous is often discussed in terms of money, but some of the most valuable things we give cannot be purchased. Time, attention, mentorship, encouragement, expertise, and presence all come from a resource that is genuinely finite. I Know How She Does It examines how successful women allocate their time among careers, families, relationships, responsibilities, and personal goals, inviting readers to consider whether the way they manage their time reflects what they say matters most.

November | Unselfish

Stop Letting Everything Affect You by Daniel Chidiac

Being Unselfish does not mean surrendering unlimited emotional energy to every person, problem, or opinion that demands it. Stop Letting Everything Affect You explores perspective, reactions, and boundaries, offering an important counterpoint to the idea that caring requires constant emotional depletion. Protecting our capacity can allow us to bring more patience, clarity, and attention to the people and responsibilities that genuinely deserve it.

December | Necessary

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, Ph.D.

Some knowledge is useful because it answers a question; other knowledge becomes Necessary because it changes the context in which we ask the question. Guns, Germs, and Steel examines geography, agriculture, technology, disease, and the forces that influenced the development of human societies. After a year spent looking closely at individual behavior, choices, preparedness, and growth, December widens the lens to consider the historical forces that shaped the world in which those individual decisions are made.

More Than Reading the Book

A book can be read alone, but an idea becomes much more interesting when someone else sees it differently.

The AG & AG Book Club is a virtual community where members can join from home for casual conversations with like-minded women across the country. Different careers, life experiences, training backgrounds, and perspectives come together around the same book, and that diversity often reveals something the individual reader would have missed.

The monthly values add another layer to those conversations. In addition to the Shooting Journal worksheets and Virtual GNO Value Discussions, the Book Club provides an opportunity to explore what those qualities look like when tested against ideas, experiences, and real-world decisions.

That is also why the reading list is intentionally not limited to firearms or traditional self-defense books. A conversation about psychology can influence situational awareness. Understanding cognitive bias can improve decision-making. A discussion about time can change how someone approaches leadership, family, or training. Fiction can illuminate risks through another person’s experience, while history can provide context for assumptions we rarely stop to question.

Capability is cumulative. Every skill, experience, idea, and perspective gives us something else to draw from when we need it.

Join the Conversation in 2027

AG & AG Book Club meetings are held virtually on the last Thursday of every month at 6 p.m. Central Time, making it easy to participate from home. Occasionally, the meeting may be rescheduled when the last Thursday conflicts with a major holiday, such as Thanksgiving, so members should watch AG & AG announcements for schedule updates.

You do not need to be a literary expert, finish every book, or arrive prepared to defend a thesis. Book Club is a casual gathering. Read all 12 selections, choose the months that interest you most, or pick up a book you never would have chosen for yourself and discover why it made the list.

Then come talk about it!

Bring the passage you highlighted, the idea you disagreed with, the question you cannot quite answer, or the lesson you want to remember. Listen to what another member noticed. Consider an interpretation you had not thought about. You may leave convinced of exactly what you believed when you arrived, or you may leave thinking about something completely differently. Either outcome can be valuable.

The 2027 Book Club list is published now so members have plenty of time to start reading and planning for the year ahead. Pick up How Great Ideas Happen, mark the last Thursday of January on your calendar, and join us at 6 p.m. Central.

The range teaches us what we can do. Continuing to learn helps us understand when, why, and how to use everything we know.

Come read with us in 2027! Learn more at Book Club ⋆ A Girl and A Gun.