Book Club

Tonight is book club and it is at my place. I have been cleaning the house (well, it was a total tip) and arranging things, and putting out the books. Here are some stats...... We started meeting in November 1992, and there were just 4 of us to start with. Numbers rose to 12 by May 1993, and that is the ideal number. We have read, or have had the opportunity to read, 1125 books. They are all listed in "The Book", and we will soon have to start a new one. The list of the books we have and the list of who has borrowed what are about to meet in the middle.

We have been through phases. Many of them. The Chinese phase, the hostage phase. The snow phase. The Irish phase. We agree at times, disagree at others. We have covered most genres, and all have our favourites. Whoever is hosting the monthly meeting buys new books to put in, and once everyone has had the chance to read them, we take them out and keep the ones we bought. To start with, we all brought 5 of our favourite books and gave a brief explanation of why we loved them, and then we were off and flying. I cannot recommend having a bookclub more highly. It is a gathering of friends for a purpose, and, as I have mentioned before, we choose not to all read the same book. We have done now and then, and sometimes we keep our opinions of a particular book to ourselves until we have all read it and then discuss it.

Sometimes we all manage to be there, and there are months when that is just not possible, but we do try. Everyone has a say, and our opinions are as diverse as we are, which adds to the fun. And we all get to read books we would never have dreamt of buying for ourselves. If you haven't got a book club, why don't you start one? There are no real rules. Just make them up as you go! Try it!