perspectives -book clubs

I am in two different book clubs. One I joined at the local public library soon after my first child was born, and the other began as a "mom's club" book group. Both groups have pluses and minuses, and both groups have certainly given me a great deal to think about on a regular basis. My library group takes the reading and meeting much more seriously. I really respect and enjoy that! (In the other group, people often come without having read the book, and seem happy to spend more than half the meeting talking off-topic.) It is rare for one person to dominate the library group, although we do not have a leader or facilitator. We really don't need one. These ladies come prepared with notes and pages marked, sometimes with an entire written response to the book. The women probably range in age from fifty to eighty (just guessing here), and I am thirty-seven. We all acknowledge that I am in a different generation, and with all of the experience these women have, I try to do more listening than talking. I like to think that we can all learn from each other, though, and I feel like I am listened to and my opinion is valued.



Last week we talked about Pride and Prejudice. It was my first reading of that classic, and it took me a few chapters to get accustomed to the language. It was almost like having a conversation with someone with a strong accent. You had to have a command of the language back then. I imagine that they would be appalled at how we have let our vocabularies disintegrate in the last few centuries. I can do without all of the classism and snobbishness, but there is something to be said for proper manners, and at least knowing how you are supposed to act. One of the biggest disadvantages some children have is that they simply do not know they are lacking basic manners, such as how to introduce someone or to say "please."

In my other book club, we discussed Middlesex. I am still thinking about that one.

It was a very good book, and it would have been much better even if I had been able to read it in several periods of unbroken time, rather than the snippets I got here and there. I wasn't able to finish it before the group met, but I still enjoyed the conversation. Unfortunately, this group tends to have less actual focus on the book (and a couple of storytellers who seem to go on and on). I do enjoy the books that are chosen and seeing the women, but I sometimes come away feeling that the books aren't getting as much attention as I'd like.