The Readers 2.0
I have wanted to be part of a book club for a very long time. Finally I felt like we had a critical mass of people we enjoy spending time with, time to plan for regular outings, time to read, and my brother-and sister-in-law in Vermont started in a book club that had been running for a long time, and after chatting with them at our mini-Gem-Fest holiday gathering, I decided the time was ripe to make it happen.
I texted with the person who ran their book club, and picked his brain about best practices, then I invited 18 different people, knowing that several of them would not be available. We ended up with 10 people who were interested and had time, 8 of whom had never been in a book club before.
Buds and I hosted our first meeting on January 30 where we chose our first book to be discussed at the end of February. We ended up with only 6 of us at that first meeting due to last minute work meetings, contractors finishing a long kitchen renovation, and other life circumstances. It was lovely gathering, and I was excited for our next get together.
We chose The Mercies as our first book.
Our end of February meeting got pushed to March due to travel, Buddie's illness, and a birthday dinner, and even with the rescheduled timing, two people couldn't attend due to illness, but we had our first meeting where we discussed our book with introspective, lively discussion led by Buds on March 14th.
Our host loves to cook, so we had a delicious Indian meal, figured out who wanted to host our next gathering and picked our next two dates, then after more discussion, picked our next two books; Circe by Madeline Miller, followed by Still Life by Louise Penny in May.
As always with this administration, the world feels so heavy and dark, but building community is one of the ways we fight oppression and sorrow. We have to keep doing the other things, but to be with good people, connecting, that's a way to keep working for justice, too. This first book, The Mercies, is about a witch hunt in 1600's Norway, and the parallels with the current political climate, oppression of women, and hysteria and fear about those different from "us" were definitely a part of our discussion.
Looking forward to many more visits with this crowd.
