Book Club memories

This year I joined a book club. Well, actually, I am a founding member of a new book club with me, my ex-manager (retired from the place I used to work – retired before I left), my ex-office sharer and friend (also retired from the place I used to work – retired even before my ex-manager) and a friend of my ex-office-sharer. I have wanted to get back into a book club since I left my old one in Regina when we moved out here in 2007. I really miss my book club. I still am connected though, as I am the administrator for our email group so I always know what they are reading and when they are meeting (someday I’ll be back and drop in for visit!)

I’ve been thinking about what made that book club so fabulous from my perspective. A bunch of professional women (we talked – no men were invited to join) getting together to drink wine and talk about the book we read – or didn’t read. It wasn’t mandatory. We were still allowed to come and participate. We did talk a bit about our lives and our hair – especially about our hair. But we spent most of the time talking about the book. But it was a fun, interesting, never confrontational discussion. Not too much “intellectuality” – everyone there had advanced degrees, but we were there to talk from how the book made us feel, think, change our minds, or perhaps to talk about why we couldn’t get past the first chapter. It was only once a month, and not everyone came every month. That was the way it was – if you could be there, great, if not, see you next month.

At least this is what I remember about book club. And I miss it. I miss talking to people who lived different lives and had different jobs than me (when you work at a university, that tends to be your life), and I miss the camaraderie. It was only once a month, but I miss it.

I like the conversations around a book that I loved that others hated, or vice versa. Or the book that someone didn’t get at all that others found the most thought-provoking book they had read in a long time. It expanded my mind, and helped me see things from another person’s point of view. It’s sometimes hard to get that same kind of interaction in everyday life.

Now, I am not thinking that this new book club will be the same experience. The people are different, of course. But I am excited to be reading books I wouldn’t perhaps normally read, and talking to these women about their impressions of some interesting, thought-provoking and fun books. We have already read two books (Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, and The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson), and have enjoyed the conversations. Maybe someday I’ll get brave enough to “review” one of the books we read!

So, that’s my “B” post. But it wouldn’t be complete without a picture, but I don’t have any pictures I think would relate well to my Book Club, so here are some pictures of our babies (B is also for “babies”). You can also see them on my About page, but here are some different shots…

Elliot and Jasper as kittens:

Dexter and Nicholas as kittens: