A group of neighbors recently started a book club. I was all in. It seemed like a perfect fit. I love to read. I like to see my neighbors. There was no commute to navigate or the trouble of finding a parking place. Of course, this would be a great extracurricular.
January 2020 was the very first book club I joined. A friend, a woman I met when our kids went to the same school, was finally going to check something off her bucket list-start a book group. She picked the book and planned a dinner themed to go with the book. There were about 8 or 10 of us. The book was Where the Crawdad’s Sing; I don’t recall being a big fan. Our conversation was fun and didn’t end up having much to do with the book.
That first meeting was successful enough to inspire another gathering in March. There was a consensus among the attendees that once a month was too ambitious given the structure of dinner and a book. March 2020 came and went as the world shut down to Covid. We regrouped enough to pick another book and plan a zoom. One zoom book meeting was enough. I was out. Zoom dominated my life between work and board meetings. I didn’t have the patience to add another online activity.
When this recent opportunity presented itself, I welcomed the idea of an in-person book club. I attended the first meeting. It was a book I had read a year or more before, and I had to refresh my memory with a quick Google search, The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. I remembered enjoying the book and none of the details. Several of my neighbors attended the inaugural meeting. I enjoyed seeing everyone. The next book was selected, and I could not attend. Then the next book was selected, and I was out of town. My neighbor whose idea it was to have a book club and I met in the garage over the weekend. She inquired if I would be attending this month’s meeting. I am not sure because I may have a work conflict.
Today I just started a new book, Dawn by Octavia E. Butler. I am savoring dropping into the world she created. Parable of the Talents is the last book of hers I read. Thinking about the upcoming neighborhood book group, I debated whether to read their selection. Then it struck me, I don’t think I am a book club person. It came as a shock. However, as I began to investigate this new bit of information about myself, I began to see it was true.
I like catching up with my neighbors. I am curious about what other people are reading, listening to, and watching. I am delighted when someone spontaneously mentions a book or article that I am familiar with and shares their thoughts. I am an avid consumer of book reviews.
I thought I would be a book club person. I am not a book club person, at least for now
