Monday, August 24, 2009

Book clubs

For a long time, I have avoided book clubs like the plague. I love reading, but somehow, the idea of book clubs has always given me flashbacks to my sophomore English class in high school. That particular teacher and her wandering eye have single-handedly killed any joy I could ever have for reading with the purposes of discussing the material with other people.

Book clubs have always seemed like a way to feel good about giving yourself extra homework under the pretenses of social entertainment. Who needs that?

These days, though, I am feeling completely different. Last week, my brilliant sister suggested that we start a book club - just the two of us. The moment she suggested it, I knew it was the most wonderful idea I had ever heard.

I could have just been suffering the intoxicating effects of a good bookstore. As a side note, those mega-corp bookstore chains CANNOT evoke intoxicating feelings. Those feelings are only possible in the bookstores run by people who actually like to read and enjoy getting carried away with stories of dragons or wild adventures or murder mysteries.

Maybe I was just feeling swoony after an evening of tea and desserts and dominoes around a large table whose surface was once a tree trunk.

Time will tell, I guess, if this book club will be a success, but it sure does have potential. We have similar tastes, so it should be easy to find books we both will enjoy. And the discussions, I think, could add a wonderful dimension to our relationship.

Our first book is Julie and Julia, and the reading is already underway. We celebrated our inaugural book by going to see the movie when Daina was here last week. The movies are never as good as the books, so we figured it would be best to see it first. That, and we wanted to see a chick flick together. What can I say, we are masters at justifying a decision.

Any suggestions for good book-club books? I was thinking maybe one off the presidential "must read" list might be fun.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I really enjoyed John Adams. McCullough makes him seem all the more pertinent to our issues today - from birthers (Adams had his own lunatic fringe to deal with) to the separation of church & state. And it's on the shelf!

Dunno if Daina would be down with it tho.

Daina said...

I think the hot, flat, and crowded book sounds interesting! Im up for anything! Can't wait for our book discussion on sunday!

Debra said...

You should look into "My Life in France", by Julia Child.