I'm no John Updike....yet
This evening, I engaged in an activity that I haven't done since taking ENGL 365: African-American Literature my sophomore year at CWRU.
No, I didn't score free coffee at Arabica from one of my male classmates, who lived in my dorm, and was incredibly hot in a pierced, tattooed and baggy pants sort of way. I didn't really didn't think he knew who I was at all, despite being in the same class and living in the same dorm and seeing him all the time behind the coffee shop counter until OH MY GOD one day he said my hot chocolate with extra whipped cream was on the house!
Man, I was impressionable at 19. Wonder what happened to him. Anyway.
No, I participated in an organized reading of a book. That's right, I actually went to a book club meeting. I've long been a little leery of "book clubs" - the stereotypically female "let's get together to chat about the book for 5 minutes and then drink lots of wine and talk about our lives instead" idea just never sounded very attractive to me. I realize that not all book groups are like this, and that it takes a bit of work to find them. I figured starting with a group based in a book store would probably help with breaking this stereotype in my head.
Enter The Blue Elephant Bookshop. I'd been meaning to check this shop out, and attending the book group seemed like a good place to start, seeing as how I am inclined to like all things Decatur. This month's read was A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, a read that's won all sorts of awards and received large amounts of praise.
So. The group was indeed a bunch of women - all ages, lots of teachers and former teachers, and a pretty wide-read bunch. The discussion started out slowly, and was a bit too "oh, I liked this part" at the beginning - but things really got going when the proprietress of Blue Elephant, after a general round of praise for the story from a few members of the group, stated that she was not at all enamored with the book.
That just really made my day, for I had not at all been enamored with the book either. This is not to say that I wasn't engaged by it, because I did read it in essentially one sitting. I just was left at the end with the feeling of, "Who cares?" when all was said and done. A lively discussion ensued for roughly an hour or so, and that felt like an appropriate amount of time for me.
I think I'm going to try to continue to go - they seem like an interesting group that reads a diverse group of things. The book for September is How to Breathe Underwater, short stories by Julie Orringer. I might also check out the book group at Bound to Be Read. After all, you can never have too many books to read.....
No, I didn't score free coffee at Arabica from one of my male classmates, who lived in my dorm, and was incredibly hot in a pierced, tattooed and baggy pants sort of way. I didn't really didn't think he knew who I was at all, despite being in the same class and living in the same dorm and seeing him all the time behind the coffee shop counter until OH MY GOD one day he said my hot chocolate with extra whipped cream was on the house!
Man, I was impressionable at 19. Wonder what happened to him. Anyway.
No, I participated in an organized reading of a book. That's right, I actually went to a book club meeting. I've long been a little leery of "book clubs" - the stereotypically female "let's get together to chat about the book for 5 minutes and then drink lots of wine and talk about our lives instead" idea just never sounded very attractive to me. I realize that not all book groups are like this, and that it takes a bit of work to find them. I figured starting with a group based in a book store would probably help with breaking this stereotype in my head.
Enter The Blue Elephant Bookshop. I'd been meaning to check this shop out, and attending the book group seemed like a good place to start, seeing as how I am inclined to like all things Decatur. This month's read was A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, a read that's won all sorts of awards and received large amounts of praise.
So. The group was indeed a bunch of women - all ages, lots of teachers and former teachers, and a pretty wide-read bunch. The discussion started out slowly, and was a bit too "oh, I liked this part" at the beginning - but things really got going when the proprietress of Blue Elephant, after a general round of praise for the story from a few members of the group, stated that she was not at all enamored with the book.
That just really made my day, for I had not at all been enamored with the book either. This is not to say that I wasn't engaged by it, because I did read it in essentially one sitting. I just was left at the end with the feeling of, "Who cares?" when all was said and done. A lively discussion ensued for roughly an hour or so, and that felt like an appropriate amount of time for me.
I think I'm going to try to continue to go - they seem like an interesting group that reads a diverse group of things. The book for September is How to Breathe Underwater, short stories by Julie Orringer. I might also check out the book group at Bound to Be Read. After all, you can never have too many books to read.....