I’m a book club slut. There, I said it. I belong to 2 book clubs [officially], and 2 book clubs [unofficially--which means I just haven’t attended the first one...yet], and I’m an honorary [founding] member of the one I left behind in California when we moved to Texas last year [though I’ll be paying a guest visit to the Book Babes real soon!].
Each book club I belong to offers something different. One is very serious. One is raucous and wild. One is plain old fun and half the women don’t actually read the book. And two are sort of in between.
I love them all for several reasons.
1. Going to book club is grown up time; as a mom of 5 there’s NEVER enough grown up time.
2. Sometimes we get to drink fun alcoholic beverages and eat frou-frou fun girly food, and for the record, there are rarely fun drinks and frou-frou food in my house [did I mention 4 of said 5 children are boys and frou-frou food is NOT their thing?].
3. The conversations…yes, they always involve the books [some more than others]! We get to talk about themes and plots and characters and motivations…and the other women aren’t writers and it’s awesome to hear their perspectives on the books we read.
4. I feel smarter after we read a ‘deep’ book! It’s like college again. I could get a degree in Book Club-ology.
5. It’s very fun to dig into a ‘lighter’ book and pull deeper meaning from it–whether or not the author intended for that meaning or symbolism or whatever to be there.
6. I read things I may never have picked up otherwise, so it’s very mind-opening.
We’ve read quite a selection of books in my book clubs. Here’s a sampling:
*The Middle Place — LOVED it.
*Water for Elephants — LOVED it.
*Madame Bovary — Seiously, one of the best of all time? It was tough to get through, but I did!
*Gone With the Wind — One of my faves.
*March — pretty good.
*The Reading Group — pretty good.
*Adam — pretty good. Lots of symbolism.
*Same Kind of Different as Me — LOVED it.
*The Year of Living Biblically — Liked it.
*On Beauty — okay, but the rest thought it was a dud!
*Thirteen Minutes — Distrubing, but good.
*A Thousand Splendid Suns — Really Liked it.
*Wake — Good
*Outliers — Really LOVED it. So thought provoking.
*The Glass Castle — LOVED it.
Currently Reading: *Valley of the Dolls; *The Faith Club; *Age is Just a Number; and *The Enchantress of Florence
So, am I alone in my book club slut syndrome? Do you belong to one? More than one? What are some of your favorite book club reads?
No related posts.
I’m of two minds here, author and reader.
Author: I’d LOVE for book clubs to pick up my books. One publisher even discounts them to clubs.
Reader: I like picking and choosing what I read.
My ideal book club would be one where everyone reads what they like, and then they’re discussed at the meetings (with delectable refreshments). If a group member’s discussion intrigues me, then I’d try the book. That way, I wouldn’t feel like it was ‘homework’ or a book in a genre I don’t read.
I’ve had several local book clubs read my book, Terry. They’ve then invited me to their meetings and they’ve been FUN! I posted book club questions on my web site, too. Now, mine is a light, fun book, so no heavy thinking required, but lots of book clubs like that! I think it’s awesome that your publisher offers incentives/discounts for clubs.
I was in a book club years ago, and we ended up disbanding because reading the book started to become too much like homework. We took turns choosing the book, and sometimes it would be two days before our next meeting and I’d have to force myself to get through the book. We all decided we didn’t have enough time to be able to read books for both club and pleasure and decided to take a break for a while. That was 6 years ago.
But I did love being in it, mostly because during that time, I was actually well-read up on current literature. I read a lot of stuff I’d never read on my own, which is always good for the brain. And I did find many books that are among my favorite all-time reads – “The Poisonwood Bible”, “The Red Tent”, “Where The Heart Is” just to name a few.
Madame Bovary definitely felt like a chore, Lynn! I do like to pick out what books I want to read. I have read some really great books through book club that I NEVER would have read otherwise; I love that it helps me open my mind to new authors, genres, subject matter, etc.
Oh, we read The Red Tent… fascinating. I have The Poisonwood Bible to read. I’ve been waiting because it’s so thick! Glad to know it’s a favorite of yours. I will move it up in my pile!
Delectable treats are a must for any book club meeting! Margaritas are a bonus, too.
My mom and sister both belong to book clubs, so I just find out what they’re reading and follow along. All the fun and none of the work. Well, not ALL the fun, since I’m missing the margaritas
I belong to goodreads, which is a lot like Terry’s ideal book club. Everyone is devouring books, trading title suggestions, discussing and debating. Very energizing, yet I can still participate in my own time.
I just joined Goodreads. Still learning the ropes. If you have any suggestions, let me know.
Chiming in late here… Enjoyed your post about the love of book clubs. I belong to three of them myself.
Two meet in person and one meets online. One reads parenting non-fiction–for some reason, I’ve only been to a couple of these meetings.
Another reads more literary fiction and yes, it does make me feel a little smarter when I head home. I’ve read tons of books I might not ever have read otherwise and get recommendations from the other members who are huge readers of all sorts of fiction. The third one tends to read steamier genre fiction which we discuss in a chat room each week. We’ve had a few authors join us and we like to tease them that they are no longer “chat virgins” after spending an hour with us.
Thanks for a great post, Misa. Book club sluts, unite!