Book Club

Being part of an original book club is one of the funnest things I have ever done. That probably sounds weird and tame but I truly enjoy our once a month gathering. We get to the hostess’ home with our share of the feast and settle down for a nice chat and coffee and goodies before we tackle the book of the month. In the nearly 8 years of our existence we have had some wonderful talks about the books we chose (occasionally) but we have always had great social talks about our lives, our jobs, our families and the world at large.

There is something very satisfying in listening to other women’s opinion on things and then mulling them over and trying to get your own best take on the subject at hand. But in addition to that there is a really good feeling of just bonding with other women, sharing their joys, concerns and other interests that is a part of every true woman. For woman is a social creature, a nurturer and an earth mother and we thrive particularly with a group of other women. There is so much more scope within the circle of women than with children, husbands and other creatures because essentially we all operate on the same battery. We get it that we cannot actually fix each other’s problems, we are there to listen, throw out ideas and pray that our friend comes up with the right solution. Men don’t really get that part of the story, we don’t want you to fix it, just listen to us and then let it be.

About our actual books, we have gone through a gammet. Our original idea was to have certain categories, a mystery, a foreign book, a Canadian book (God help us), a non-fiction, a classic and then some free for alls. Generally we have hit that goal every year but some of my all time favorite discussions have come out of some unusual books. “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”, “Tortilla Flat” and “The Red Tent” were great discussions despite the fact that no one in the group but myself liked Tortilla Flat. More recently we had a terrific discussion out of “I Am Hutterite”. And with these great discussions I have learned so much about my friends and appreciate their diversity even when I disagree with them.

Now if I could only get them to dance.