Book Club(s)

What I really like about bookclubs is to find out what everyone is reading. To me, it is more exciting to unveil a book than to watch the Oscars. I participate in three book clubs now. It is a mixed bag. Reading the book is the cake and icing and quite solitary. Talking about the book is apart, like watching five people who witnessed the same crime testify in court. Everyone has a different story because everyone has their own eyes and a unique heart.

1. My primary book club is a reading society. We selfnamed when we began in 2005. Our group has lost two to relocations and gained one. Four of us have been evergreen. We handpicked our members, confirmed devotion, and set rules. Monthly meetings. The hostess chooses the book and makes dinner. No self help or religious books. Basically that's it. It has been lovely. I am amazed at the personal themes that repeat. We hear monthly about one woman's mother. How adulthood is not as idyllic as youth (is this news?). About one's voraciously reading parents. How some men cheat and some don't; they come that way. I wonder what my theme is. I probably don't want to know. Some of the favorite books we've read are: The Fountainhead, Ex Libris, Fieldwork, A Black Englishman, Imperial Woman, and Cutting for Stone.

2. My second book club is the church book group. I've actually only been about four times. It meets quarterly. I liked the one at Margaret's home for Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression. I go if the book interests me. The attendees are rarely consistent. It's a free-for-all.


3. I just joined another book club online. I wondered how it would work; it's so low-key, I was exhilarated. I had read the book a few years ago so no time was involved. I just commented with my two cents. I enjoyed reading the other comments and found this is a spectacular way to enjoy the benefit of a club. The lead person even sent a recipe for beignets the week before so we could all enjoy a treat while participating. I didn't make the beignets but don't think I didn't want to. Read about it here.


Say what you will about clubs, I am lucky to be literate.