I joined my book club for many reasons but one was so that I would get better at dissecting written works. I am a very concrete thinker and typically follow the plot in a 'find out what happens' sort of way. Often 'what happens' has nothing to do with what the author is writing about.
I am hosting Tuesday night's discussion and admit that although I feel much more confident than I did when I first joined the club, I am a bit out of my league with this story. It takes place during the 30's in England and involves many elements of particularly British societal issues, issues of which I know little. Fortunately I do not have to present my own analysis but rather stimulate the conversation with well placed questions. Two of my clubbers have actually lived in England for some period of time and one new member is a retired literature professor so I know I'll get lots of help!
I wish my sister lived closer and could be in my book club too. Her analytical mind and former job as an English teacher would help me so much!
4 comments:
And your sister wishes you lived closer to us as well. I also think I would enjoy your book club more than my own, which tends toward lighter fare and less analytical conversation. Inevitably we end up talking about whether we "liked" the book or not - a totally irrelevant question in my opinion. Let me know when you come across book club books you think I would enjoy even if it seems to take me forever to get to them. And I still have some books Dad wanted me to read and pass on to you...
- Your Big Sis
It's funny, although my club's discussion is quite academic and analytical, the way we start easing the conversation from our social chatter that accompanies our meal (we meet at the cafe inside Earth Fare) is by saying, "OK, first, who liked this book?"!! Once we get that out of the way so we know where everyone stands we begin to discuss in earnest. It's also so interesting how polite we all are with each other most of the time, prefacing any criticism with a well turned out disclaimer of exclusive certainty of the opinion we're about to state. Maybe you could fly down once a month, the second Tuesday of every month?
If I ever move back to the CLT area, I'd love to join the club. I really enjoyed my biology book club in grad school (it's where I met Gabriel) and I got a lot out of discussing what I'd just read that week. Very stimulating and fun.
-Shirin
That would be awesome, Shirin.
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