Last year I was jealous of all my friends who belonged to book clubs who had fun discussing books every month without me.
So I started my own.
It was quite ambitious of me, which is new and different, and I really didn’t know how to go about it. I put a status update on Facebook asking any of my local friends if they would be interested in a book club. I got a good response and started a club page. Since we live all over the area, I thought we should have our meetings at a central area, pick restaurants to try out and get together once a month to enjoy each other’s company and discuss that month’s book.
So we’ve now been at this for over a year, and while I’m still excited about the prospect of my own book club, I’m disappointed in the turnout. I’m disappointed in the dedication of the members. We have 14 members, according to the facebook page, and at last month’s meeting only three of us showed up.
How do I change this? How do I address it?
On the other hand, two months ago I met a woman at a vender luncheon, and she immediately invited me to join her book club. This was the same Wednesday that my grandmother went into the hospital and passed less than a week later, so while I said yes and was excited about it, I didn’t really think about it too much. I picked up the book from the ebook library (Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakower), but I wasn’t even sure I would end up joining this club. I didn’t know anyone, and I just barely knew the girl who invited me.
But I went. I brought a bottle of wine, and I trekked out to the home of a perfect stranger to eat hors’ de oeuvres and drink wine and talk extensively about a book that I had lukewarm feelings about but enjoyed the discussion immensely. I was there for three hours! And probably half of that was spent talking about the book! And these were people from all walks of life, and all backgrounds and were so very interesting. Fourteen people attended! Raucous conversation on the idiots who climb higher than a plane cruises, knowing it’s more than possible they’ll die!
I’m definitely going back. I’ve already requested next month’s book from the library, and I can’t wait until the last Friday in March when I can do it again. And then the last Friday in April, when I can do it again.
So it was everything I wished for in a book club. It’s everything I wish my book club could be, would be. And the question is, can I turn my little book club into something like that?
(And on a slightly separate note, someone brought a quinoa and edamame salad to the group and it was AMAZING. It tasted like sushi on a spoon. This looks like the recipe and I can’t wait to make it myself to confirm)
4 comments:
I'm soooo jealous. I tried one book club years ago, it was new and our first (and last) book was Are You There Vodka, It's Me Chelsea. Not exactly a classic. Ugh.
I'm jealous too. It sounds great! :)
Maybe with the new club you can let your club go, especially if it's a source of frustration instead of fun and discussion. In my experience the book club I belonged to tended to wax and wane from about a dozen members to four or five.
I can't let go of the first club - I enjoy the people there too much (especially when they go). This might allow me to be a little less uptight about it though, since I already have a book club that fits my ideal.
Stacie - I tried to like Chelsea, but I just can't do it. I got through about 5 pages of one of her memoirs.
Maybe people don't want to go out to eat every month? Aside from the expense, it can be hard to talk in a large group at a restaurant. I suppose it could be harder to arrange to take turns hosting, but it might be worth a shot.
Good luck! I wish I had a book club.
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