A toast to book clubs!

October is National Reading Group Month, so I thought I’d use this opportunity to introduce you to mine and allow you to introduce yours.

How’s this going to work? You’ll notice a couple of pictures of my group, and I’m going to tell you a little about us in a bit. And, throughout the month, if you’ll send me a picture of your group (and answer a couple of the posed questions below) I’ll create a post on my blog about your group. This is all to honor our common love of books and the friendships that are created and fortified because of them. It is a way for us to get to know each other.

I’ve been a part of this group a little less than a year, though they’ve been together much longer. We are all educators – former or present – and most of us teach/taught the arts. We try to meet monthly and typically in someone’s home – rotating service. The hostess provides themed food dictated by the book. (Yes, our hostess for The Help served chocolate pie!) Occasionally when school schedules dictate, we skip a month of reading and meet at a restaurant so not to miss the fellowship.

Some of the group’s favorite discussions have been about Memoirs of a Geisha, Poisonwood Bible, One Thousand Women and Under the Banner of Heaven. (All of these were discussed pre-Babbette. Since I’ve come on board, I’d say the best books & discussions were about The Space Between Us and The Reader.)

Without question, our least favorite read was Tropic of Cancer. We chose it because we wanted to read a ‘banned book.’ There also may be a batch of sangria to blame… If you’re interested in why we disliked it, I summed it up here.

Another book that our group sets up as a ‘milestone’ read is Perfume. Some of us loved it – others hated it, but we all agree that it created for us a new standard of the grotesque and by it, we rate where other books stand.

We don’t have a strict method for picking books, and we pick them month to month. A couple of us have other friends or relatives who read, so often the recommendations come from them.

Finally, our gatherings wouldn’t be complete without wine.

So, how about you?