Thursday, October 11, 2007

Depressing.

I want to be in a book club.

Back when I was in graduate school, I started a book club with some of my colleagues. Admittedly, we were a hoity-toity bunch. Our book picks ranged from James Gleick to William Faulkner (with a little Jonathan Safran Foer and Michael Chabon in there to be trendy). We drank lots of wine and discussed things that made us feel smart and superior. But it was a lot of fun and I read a lot of books that I probably would not have normally picked up.

And so, when a friend at our last duty station said she was interested in doing a book club so she could expand her horizons, I jumped up and said I'd round one up.

I invited a lot of people. By the time I was done pestering, about 7 decided to give it a try. Book club rules were the person hosting the next month's meeting would select the book (as well as provide the wine and cheese). When N., a woman I didn't know very well, chose Jodi Picault's "My Sister's Keeper" as the first book, I wondered if I wasn't treading on dangerous ground. But I found that much of the comraderie and branching out was there to be had in the second group as well once I got past my uptight literary snobbery.

New duty station, new book club, right? Third time's got to be the charm. But when I ask around, at meetings and Fundraisers, no one is interested. Just the other week, at a coffee, I asked people if they were game and got the following responses.

"I'm too busy."

"The only reading I do is in my Bible."

"I don't really read."

"I do Oprah's book club." (I asked for clarification on this. It means that when she thinks of it, she picks up whatever Oprah recommends and reads that book. She does it about three times a year).

So I think I will start a book club of one. Half the time, I hold conversations with myself these days anyway so why the hell not. For the first book, I'm going to check out David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas: A Novel."

For the second? Who knows. Got anything to recommend?

9 comments:

c wiss said...

I would do a bloggie book club. :)

I recommend "The Time Traveler's Wife" - it has a lot of interesting parallels to living life with a loved one in the military. And it's just an awesome book.

Non-Essential Equipment said...

Oooh, a bloggie book club would be fun. Like maybe on a Yahoo! group or something.

Anyone else game?

Butterfly Wife said...

I was going to suggest starting your own right here. Sorry, I rarely have time to read anything. I really am that busy. I still haven't gotten past page 50 in the last Harry Potter book. Now that's busy.

prophet said...

post-dissertation, yeah! count me in!

Fiction. . . . what a delicious concept.

kimba said...

Sure - I'm in!

Bette said...

I'd be up for this! It wouldn't hurt to hedge my bet on the real-life group I just joined. :-)

Anonymous said...

War and Peace?

...running for the door....

Seriously, it is on my life to-do list and at this rate, I'll need to live to about 120 to get it done. However, Anna Karenina is definitely doable. I love Russian literature.

Good luck with the club.

Marine Wife said...

I'm reading Pope Joan right now and it's a good read...

Non-Essential Equipment said...

I'm going to leave this open for a little while long while we're waiting on folks to finish up their dissertations and see if we get any more takers. Then we can try an online group!