The Best Book Club Ever

I am one of the moderators for a Facebook page called Read Local Kansas City, which aims to build a relationship between authors and readers in the Kansas City area. Recently, the page posted a spotlight on book clubs, linking to an article that offered tips for facilitating book club discussions.  As I read that article, I couldn’t help but think of my own book club.

I have to admit that my own book club violates most of the tips in this article. We have on occasion used questions on the book we read, drawing on either discussion guides in the back of the book or other questions we’ve found in online readers’ guides. But those occasions are rare.

Typically, we spend about five minutes on the book during a three hours session. We use summary phrases like “loved it” and “hated it” and rarely support our opinions with evidence from the text.

We do try to rotate which member selects the next book. But our rotation often breaks down, and we go with whoever first says, “I just read a book I really liked.”

Most of us read the book . . . at some point. But one member prefers to wait for the movie.

Frankly, we are a social group, more than a book club. We all worked together at the same company once upon a time, and the book club started as an excuse to get together as we started to retire. When the club began, two of the seven of us had retired. Now, five are retired, and one of those moved out of town. So we are down to six members—four retirees and two still working at the same place.

But what is fascinating to me is what we are doing with our time when we’re not at book club. The two who remain working have pivotal jobs. The rest of us are engaged in a variety of nonprofit boards, committees, and paid and unpaid occupations. We’ve taken classes and courses, including one who attended a year-long executive “encore career” program at Harvard. One started a new nonprofit organization that supports public educators. Two have taught. Several have done some consulting. I am writing novels. We have all traveled around the nation and around the globe.

Through the last several years, various members have lost parents and other loved ones. We’ve graduated children, ushered our offspring into gainful employment, and married some of them off. None of us (currently) has a child living in the basement. We now have several sons- and daughters-in-law and two of the members can claim grandchildren. Some have bought vacation homes, but they’re often too busy to use them.

This group of women who were once corporate executives across divisions in a single company are now pursuing their varied personal and professional endeavors. Some of us knew each other well when we were working, others we’ve come to know better in our book club. Regardless of past connections, it is a delight now to meet to catch up, though the pace of our collective activities leaves me breathless.

We meet for the wine and the food. We meet for the conversation. But mostly we meet to spend time with impressive people. As one member said at one of our meetings, “I’m so glad I know so many smart women.” And it’s true—we’re intelligent and compassionate and the best book club ever.

Why would we talk about books, when our own lives are as interesting as any book?

Do you think your book club is the best book club ever? Leave a comment to tell me why.