A few people have given me a funny look when I say I'm starting another book club. Well why wouldn't I? If one is good, two is better! (Although applying this philosophy to dessert has not always worked well for me.) ...But I enjoy my "other" book club so much that I thought another would be twice as much fun. I get so many things out of book club: mental stimulation (discussion and the exposure to books I wouldn't normally pick), social interaction (to people I might not otherwise spend time with), and a wonderful source of support. I read the books so my brain doesn't turn to mush, and I meet up with people and chat about books so my social life doesn't consist solely of phone calls and now-and-then visits to out-of-town friends... But the support I get from book club came as a total shock and still completely blows me away. My other book club has been meeting for four years, and has come to be a place we turn to for advice, for sympathy, and for updates on the lives of our friends. I look forward to book club like nothing else. If it came to attending a friend's wedding or attending book club... well, there would be some serious sleepless nights.
So... another book club: isn't one enough? Well, I have time to read more than one book a month, really. And besides, I came to my new workplace and discovered the people there are not only incredibly nice, but there is a large pool of people in just the right demographic to form a book club! After spending far too much work time devoted to non-work book club organizing, I found enough other like-minded people that we went for lunch and started sorting out the details. Luckily, we're all pretty easy going so far and tend to work towards compromise. (Did you know that that some book clubs implode over issues like how to pick the books?!? True!) After using the phrase, "Well, in my other book club..." at least a thousand times, we managed to successfully pick a book, pick a host, sort out food and beverages, and have our first meeting.
The book discussion was great, but I'm more curious about the social side. Who makes the first personal comment? Who first links the book's events to something from their own life? Who makes the first completely outrageous and blatantly vulgar joke? And who laughs the loudest at it?!? These are the things I'm watching for, and these are likely what I'll be writing more about, since book club is an amazing way to watch group dynamics evolve and friendships grow. If the first meeting was great, remember it only gets better!
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