3 posts tagged “book club”

I haven't kept up with posts very well the last couple of months. But then I haven't had a lot to say about the books I've been reading. I joined a (er, another) book club a few months ago. I have a problem with committing to book clubs here in Connecticut. I find myself disappointed with either the book selections, the discourse, or both and so I habitually quit the groups. That either makes me sound snobby or nerdy, but it's just the truth.

Then this year, I made a real commitment to a book club. I am reading the books no matter what, and I am resolved to stay in the group for at least a year. OK, I cheated a bit when I refused to read Eat, Pray, Love, but everyone has to draw his/her lines somewhere.

So, I think I can sum up what we've read pretty quickly in one post.

The Memory of Running
I missed that one as I joined the group after the first meeting.

The Road
Liked it a lot. No, I didn't really like the book, but I liked how the author could evoke the feeling of an apocalyptic world so completely.

Dog on It
A silly book about a narrating dog who is one-half of a detective agency.

Eat, Pray, Love
This was the one I boycotted as it was just way too Oprah for me.

The 19th Wife
A long book that tried too much. The story switched between the 1800s and the present. I liked the historical stuff about Mormonism and its history. The modern day murder mystery just didn't work as well.

The Time Traveler's Wife
The most unromantic romantic novel that I've ever read. Actually, I would say Wuthering Heights really wins that title, but this one is a close second.

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The title is way too long. Otherwise, I would have also accused it of being too sentimental if it weren't for all the Nazis in the book. Although I have a feeling that Martha Stewart herself would find this book "charming" I did end up liking its take on love and family.

So far, I am enjoying this book club. Most of the selections are not books I would have ever read on my own, but I've learned something from all of them. I'm looking forward to the second half of the year.

I admit that I have gotten very little reading done over the last few months. Sometimes life just gets in my way. So, joining a book club probably isn't the smartest thing for me to do at this point. That's always part of the fun of doing something anyway really. Here I am trying again...

I have awful luck with book clubs in Connecticut. I have been a part of three. I tried to start my own. All of those were disasters.

I really do think it's my fault though. I am way, way, way too much of a nerd. I want to do things like read quality literature, examine the novel, and discuss issues raised in the book. What I've learned about the women (men rarely seem drawn to discussing literature in an group) I've met so far is that they want to read things that are "light" or "fun." They want to talk--just not necessarily about the book. And they like puppies. And kittens. The more puppies and kittens in a book, the more chance a book club will absolutely love it.

The book club I went to was discussing The Road and I thought the selection was a promising one. Sadly, the deepest question we got to was "What did the road symbolize?" And that was from Oprah's suggested book club questions that someone invariably has printed out and brought along. Sigh.

But, I am determined to be more easy going about it this time. I am going to read the next two books. No matter what. I am going to look at this as primarily a social group instead of primarily a book group, and see where it leads me. I'm just going to put the little nerd inside me on the shelf for a couple of months. She'll be there when I get back. She'll be reading Proust anyway and too busy to notice I've even been gone.

Then last night I had a dream and I knew I had made the right decision. I dreamed that I was distracted by a puppy while people robbed me of all the possessions I had left in the world. The puppy didn't eat me. Yep, I'm definitely on the right path.