Oprah's invited.

I've never been in a bookclub. Poor Cinders. But I've been the guest of many, many bookclubs who're reading one of my books - three this week as a matter of fact - and a girl can dream.

The Bookends, Sacramento

The bookclubs I've visited have all been suspiciously well-catered considering the book's the thing. (Right? (Wink.)) One of them had a full, three-course dinner, with a menu chosen to reflect the reading matter. Others go down the cheeseball and kettle chips route but liquid refreshments are always many and excellent. I learned a new drink recipe at a Sacramento bookclub on Saturday morning: it's just a cooler of water with cucumber, mint and sliced ginger floating in it, but so cleansing. We all agreed we were pretty much committed to cleansing with latte and chocolate-covered graham crackers, but it sounded lovely.

My dream bookclub will serve Taylor's of Harrogate Yorkshire Gold tea in pint mugs with cold whole milk. And Hobnobs for dunking.

And the range of books these women (mostly) are reading! Of course, when I go they're reading British crime fiction, but I get to hear about last month's and next month's and that one they all hated . . . fiction light and dark, memoirs old and new, history and science and The Casual Vacancy. There's a state law in California that every bookclub has to read The Casual Vacancy. It was signed in after the lapsing of the We Need To Talk About Kevin statute, I think. I adored both those books, by the way, and could have joined the fray. (These two books are quite divisive.)

My dream bookclub would be reading Hilary Mantel's Cromwell trilogy, Dickens (something's going to make me do it one day), The Martian if it's not too late, and Beowulf. I'd assign Beowulf when the meeting was at my house and when no one came I'd curl up and watch a Gilmore Girls box-set.

It's always fun to try to work out how this disparate group of women ever came to be in a club together. Some drive so they're not all neighbours; they don't work together; they certainly don't enjoy the same kind of books as a rule - The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Jonathan Franzen in consecutive months? (This is a true example from a bookclub I visited years ago. I don't know if it's still going.) But while I've witnessed plenty arguments and a few quite lively ones, I've never seen a rolled eye or heard a derisive snort.

My dream bookclub would have in it women of all ages, from everywhere, none of whom I've ever met. And a man if he wants to be there. Plus another one if he needs a friend. And at least one of the women should be a scientist to explain things in The Martian. If I get to handpick, I'd like to have my old Latin teacher from school, Jane Austen (why not, since I'm dreaming) and like I said . . . Oprah is more than welcome.

Who's in your dream bookclub? And what are you drinking reading?

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

Love this..and I am always fascinated by the connections in bookclubs. How do they meet? How do they stay together?

There's a great article in the paper today about a football play--a top Patriots draft pick--who was in Barnes and Noble in Georgia, and saw a woman (our age) browsing Me Before You.

He said--esue me, can you help me find a book? ANd she aid: Sure, what do you like to reaad? ANd he said: Everyting.

She told him she was choosing for her bookclub--and he said: Oh, I want to be in a bookclub! Can I be in yours?

She said: sure!

Now their club in Georgia has like 12 middle-aged white women--and one black man--a pro football player.

I can't get over how sweet that is.

[catriona]

I just googled the story - adorable! I wonder what he'll have them resd when it's his turn to pick.

[Laurie Rockenbeck]

I've been in a book group in some form or other for 26 years. My current group was originally formed with a friend whose husband worked at the same company mine did, and our original rule was that we only invite people who had no connection to the company. We felt like we were connecting to one group of people and wanted to get beyond the company bubble. We sought out women of various ages and backgrounds. We've been a pretty solid group for the last ten years, with some people dropping out and adding in new, but at least half of us have been in the group the whole time.

We do an annual book pick meeting where we gather and lobby for the 11 books we will read. We try to get at least one non-fiction, a classic, a memoir, at least one woman author,and at least one non-white author. Sometimes we remember to add a collection of short stories. We just finished 'Chasing the Scream' by Hari and are meeting to do our picks in June.

We rotate houses and hosting. Whoever hosts provides all the food and drink that month. There is an eclectic mix since we have omnivores and vegetarians--but there is always wine and chocolate.

[Mark]

While I would love the idea of joining a book club in theory, I can't see it happening for me in reality. I'm always so backed up with books I'm dying to read or need to read for one reason or another that I can't see how I would fit one more required read into my schedule.

However, talking with someone else about a book I just read is always a pleasure, so that aspect of it I would certainly love.

[Kathy Reel]

As much as I love to read and as much as I've read, I have yet to belong to a book club. But, I'd really like to. I've thought about starting one, but I'm not sure how to go about recruiting members, as I am rather protective about my reading time (especially getting ready for Bouchercon) and would probably choke if someone joined that wanted to read Nicholas Sparks. I know that part of the fun is bringing a diverse group of people together, but I think I prefer to read with more like-minded people, people who enjoy mystery and crime. I guess I could label the group a mystery/crime group, but then there are others fiction books that I'd like to share reading, too. Gee, no wonder I haven't started a book club. And, there is the stumbling block of always having books waiting to be read for reviews, so the time factor.

Hank, I love the story about the pro football player joining the book club. That's awesome.

[Elaine Viets]

I was just talking about book clubs with a friend at dinner. She said her book club has picked three "critically acclaimed" books that got good reviews -- and the club hated them all. She wonders if they read the same books as the critics.

[May]

I used to belong to a club that did things differently - we would each contribute the price of a book each month and the next host would take the money and buy as many books as she could that she wanted to read. The books would stay in the pool until everyone who wanted to had read them had and then go home with their purchaser. That way we all got to read a wide variety of books and there was always someone to talk to about the books we had read. We had various methods of making sure we all had an equal chance at the "new" books and no rush to get around to them all. It was fun and we weren't stuck reading something we hated.

[Marlyn Beebe]

I would like to join the bookclub that serves "Taylor's of Harrogate Yorkshire Gold tea in pint mugs with cold whole milk. And Hobnobs for dunking."