The Joys of a Book Club

One of the joys of being in your twenties is the ability to experiment with all sorts of ideas and passions. My most recent experiment is a book club. You may be thinking, “book club? I thought those were for older women who drink tea and little sandwiches,” Well actually, I have no idea what you are thinking. But what I was thinking is detailed below—and this is most certainly not your grandmother’s book club!

I was fortunate enough to form a bond with a few girls in college, and we are a close-knit group. Post college we live near each other so it is fairly easy to meet up with a friend one-on-one. However—aside from birthdays—it is hard to meet up as a group. That is where my book club idea came to mind. Meeting up as a group to discuss something as enjoyable as a book would surely give us a chance to also catch up on each other’s lives. In order to make the idea a reality, I thought up a few guidelines:

·      Invite any and all friends who are interested in discussing books
·      One rule: choose a book that will facilitate discussion
·      The person that chooses the book should host the discussion

The book we discussed.

·      Rotate book chooser/discussion hosts every month
·      Be open to inviting whomever would like to join

They are pretty simple guidelines, right? I have learned a few things from forming this book club that I will share with you because after all your twenties are about trying out new ideas! A person needs patience for new ideas to work. Some people will be too busy to read the book; some may not meet on the discussion date. But if there is one thing I have learned in working towards making this club work, is that you shouldn’t give up. If you have a passion or a great idea, work toward its fruition tirelessly because the outcome will be worth all the trouble!

Goodies!

Today I had my first book club discussion meeting! Only four out of the usual six of us were able to meet today, but we still made it work. We discussed "Love the One You're With" by Emily Giffin. I set up the patio deck outside to look nice and inviting for the guests. I baked pink lemonade cookies, made homemade guacamole, and made homemade iced tea (for the first time.) Thankfully, a friend of mine brought food as well (what a hospitable gesture!)

Patio deck ready to go.

About five minutes into our discussion amid dark clouds, it began raining. And not just sprinkles, this was full on heavy rain! I was thinking, “of course this would happen!” But I thought of what I said before. If you want something to work, don’t let anything get in your way. So we came inside and discussion began for about an hour.

Pleasantly surprised, I began taking notes. Here are some of my thoughts:
 ·      You don’t necessarily need to have discussion questions, you can just ask what people thought of the book, the ending, etc.
·      It is helpful to focus on the characters of the book
·      Keep asking questions and for people's opinions

Throughout the discussion I began getting a clearer meaning of the book. It helped to talk through issues like character development, themes, character motives, and more. Towards the end of the discussion I was reminded why I started this book club. Not only was it a way to get back together again as college friends but it was a chance to talk intellectually and share our thoughts about a book. In this day and age it is easy to focus on shallow things like celebrities and gossip what with the many facets at our fingertips feeding us all this information. But if you can set aside an hour a month to discuss something as simple as a book, you won’t regret it.

I am pleased to say that my first major experiment as a post college-grad twenty something year old was successful! At the end, somebody volunteered to choose the next book. I am glad I was able to share this idea with you and I hope it inspires you to do something as against the grain as this!

Got my iced tea and cookies!