Some history... I've always wanted to be part of a book club. English and Literature classes were always my favorite in school. I loved breaking down and analyzing a poem; or discussing the themes, imagery, and symbolism in a literay novel. Life is so much bigger than we understand at first glance. And people have more depth than we give them time to reveal.
I once joined a book club a few years back. I didn't know anyone in the group except my neighbor. Let's just say I hated the experience. People discussed religion and politics, neither topic I like to discuss among strangers. Then they discussed current news events. One person said, "I don't have time to read the news. When I want to read the news I make sure I check out TMZ." I looked around the room waiting for others to laugh. No one did. That told me she was serious, and everyone else was okay with that. I knew I would never fit in with that group of nice ladies.
So finally, when I became self-employeed, I started my own Book Club. My only rule is "no Oprah book club books." More on that in another post. I invited most everyone I knew. Not everyone has time to read, or enjoys reading enough to talk about it, and we live in a large metropolitan area, so distance is an issue as well. We are small but a perfect fit. We are, in fact, a group of well-read, reading-loving girls, and I look forward to Book Club every month! We read 2-3 books a month for discussion. We will all tell you we actually read 2-3xs as many each month.
We read all kinds of books. Fiction, nonfiction, and historical fiction. One of the things I like best about Book Club is it makes me read books I would not have normally chosen, and I usually love them. You can get into such predictablity when reading on your own. So we each choose books to read, and that keeps it diverse.
Did I mention there is wine and/or lattes? C'mon, we're not in school anymore! :-)
So...
I thought I'd blog about our monthly picks, and discussion questions. This is a new idea. Maybe I'll blog after we've already met, and include some insights we all had. Maybe not. You know I only write when I feel like it, and when I feel like I have something to say.
June's Book Club reading list
"Love You More" by Lisa Gardner
"Little Bee" by Chris Cleave
"Love You More" by Lisa Gardner is a crime novel full of twists and turns. Lots of surprises. Just when you think you've figured it out, new evidence appears, and you're back to Square One. I chose this book for two reasons: I love love love, and I mean love, Lisa Garder. She beautifully combines two of my favorite topics of all time, crime and Boston. I enjoy the street names, parks, and scenery she describes. Makes me feel like I'm there. She writes crime perfectly. Her research is immaculate. In other words, she knows her stuff! So there are no stupid unbelievable moments in the ways crimes are investigated. I also love the way she writes women. Usually resilient and hard on the outside, soft and insecure on the inside. You really care about each character in her novels. Okay so this choice isn't going to inspire too many deep literary discussions. It's just fun to talk about how the investigation unfolds, and to find out what each person thought REALLY happened. It is an EXCITING book that you CANNOT put down. And then when you finally finish, you're sad because that means the book is over. That's how I know I loved a book. When I finish it and think, "Ahhh I finally finished it and got to the conclusion. Now damn, it's over. What am I supposed to do now??"
"Little Bee" by Chris Cleave.
Okay this one has lots of discussion-worthy questions. I had trouble getting into it at first. I didn't totally understand where Little Bee was or what was going on. Then you figure it out. She is a Nigerian refugee, a teen girl, living in a detention center in England. She gets out, illegally, although she didn't know it was illegal at the time, and she goes to the only people she knows in all of England. That would be a wealthy family who visited Nigeria a few years earlier. There are gut-wrenching scenes in this book. What makes them all the more impactful is when they are told from Little Bee's scared, innocent, and confused perspective. I cheered for Little Bee through the whole book. That is, until, she makes a choice that seems eerily similar to a choice that resulted in the violent murder of her older sister. No I won't tell you what it is. But this book is full of choices, agonizing choices, that people must make in split seconds. Then I can't judge Little Bee anymore because I don't know what I would have done. This book made me think. A lot. About my wonderful, beautiful, free, but totally spoiled and out of touch, American life. It made think about the racism and predjudice that exists in my city towards refugees. Here's what I see around me: if the refugees are from Africa, we embrace them. If they are from Mexico, we call them illegal, we scorn them, and we want them out. This book has nothing to do with Mexico. But it made me think of that. This book also made me think about the impact we all have on one another. We all have the ability to help or hurt each other. I choose to help in my profession. But do I always choose that in my every day life? Would I, if my life were in danger? Ahhh, the book makes you think. It also poignantly describes how asinine we can be to people we dislike. I like when Little Bee points out that everyone is hating and killing each other, yet all listening to U2. There is so much more that this story is about. It is real. The resiliency will wrap itself around your heart till you feel the tightness in your throat. The survivor-language is inspiring. And, you must read it. Some people don't like this book. That's okay. I think it's because they focused on the tragedies. All I see is the resiliency, and it's beautiful. I read a review that said this book was "totally depressing and horrible and sad." How is that a reason not to like a book?? I think life is that way. Life is completely horrible and sad. Maybe it's my job that makes me think that but I don't live under a rock. Read a paper, mentor a child, talk to the person next to you. Life is full of horrible tragedies that no one deserves or understands. So I think we all have to *create* the joy in life. We create it for ourselves, and we can create it for others. Little Bee is a superhero (as she tells Batman... which will make more sense when you read the book). You mean with everything she has seen and experienced, she has hope?! I love it.
Favorite quotes from Little Bee...
"... and I ask you right here please agree wtih me that a scar is never ugly. That is what the scar makers want us to think. But you and I, we must agree to defy them. We must see all the scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means: I survived."
"Sad words are just another beauty. A sad story means: this storyteller survived. The next thing you know something fine will happen to her, something marvelous, and then she will turn and smile."
"You travel here and you travel there, trying to get out from under the cloud, and nothing works, and then one day you realize you've been carrying the weather around with you."
" I think everyone was killing everyone else and listening to the same music... That is a good trick about this world, Sarah. No one likes each other but everyone likes U2."
"I was carrying two cargoes. Yes, one of them was horror but the other one was hope."
