Book club lovin'.

For someone who loves books as much as I do, it’s a bit surprising that I haven’t been a long-time book club member. Of course, I’ve participated in Oprah’s book club and other online reading groups, but there’s something about a physical conversation with other readers that I’ve been longing for.

You might remember that I tried to start a book club back in 2010 when I was previously living in Pittsburgh. However, I made the worst mistake you can make in establishing a book club—I forced people. I picked books that were focused on social issues (great for conversation, not so great for people who don’t really like to read in the first place). I think we only had two meetings, and I think I might have been the only person who read both books. Still, it was a really, really good time. We still talked about the issues (among other topics), and we had snacks and wine and really good girl time. So even though it wasn’t the book club I was hoping for, it was a wonderful outlet for female friendship.

So you can certainly imagine my giddiness when my dear friend S asked me if I wanted to be in a book club she and her coworker were starting. Of course I said yes. I didn’t even care if people didn’t read the books, though I was hoping they would. I didn’t care that I didn’t know the topics or the other women in the club, though I was hoping they’d share the same love for books as I.

We had our first meeting, and I was immediately hooked when one of the clubbers challenged a “rule” that you have to pay $5 if you didn’t read the book by saying, “Who isn’t going to read the book? Why are you in a book club if you don’t want to read the book? Why do we need a rule if everyone is going to read the book?” Instantly, I knew this was a book club for me. Serious readers. We had our first meeting to select a novel, quickly agreeing on “Gone Girl,” which I loved. We had our second meeting to discuss the book, and I fell in love with the group even more. It’s a beautiful collection of women from a lot of different backgrounds. A varied group of personalities, ages, professions, opinions. Some of us like mysteries. Some of us like happy endings. Some of us prefer sad endings. Some like memoirs, some history, some beach reads, some short stories.

But that’s the beauty of it. We get to read books we would have never picked off the shelves ourselves. We get to hear the perspective of women who read the book through the lens of different experiences. I couldn’t imagine that there was a reader out there who wouldn’t like “Gone Girl.” The writing was so good; the story was so intriguing; the characters were so strange (in a good way). But there was at least one of us who hated the book. And her explanation totally made sense to me, even though I loved it so much.

We’re not in school anymore. We don’t get to discuss and debate literature, and we don’t have the opportunity to meet women of different backgrounds like we do in the classroom. So I’m so, so glad that this little circle of women have come together. I want and need them to give me perspective on books and life.

I offered to host the next meeting at my home, and I can’t wait to see my book club ladies at the end of February.

To books and love,

Lia