Book Groups -- A Week in Review

I’ve managed TWO book groups this week – Mother/Daughter book group on Tuesday. Big Love book group last night.

Last month, I was fairly crestfallen after m/d book group – it appeared to be the beginning of the end. I posed the question after our discussion if they wanted to continue, and surprisingly, I received a resounding YES. Tuesday night, even though we were still small in number, I could tell that this is something – both mothers and daughters – love. The commitment carried over to the fact that our host mom, didn’t even have her daughter their! She had committed to a show with her dad, and forgotten about book group. The mom was still willing to host us all even if she was sans daughter. Once again, the girls loved this book. I thought it was interesting that they talked more about situations than the actual book – whether they had been to a play – what Christmas traditions did they have – it was a very dynamic discussion. I’m much more optimistic that our m/d book group will survive. We even plan on meeting through the summer. One mom even said, “Oh, yes, I think they will miss it if we don’t meet.” Love the love.

Since we were done with Betsy-Tacy – the girls had to come up with suggestions for our future books. After a very democratic vote – the girls decided on:

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Description: When suburban Claudia Kincaid decides to run away, she knows she doesn't just want to run from somewhere she wants to run to somewhere--to a place that is comfortable, beautiful, and preferably elegant. She chooses the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Knowing that her younger brother, Jamie, has money and thus can help her with the serious cash flow problem she invites him along. Once settled into the museum, Claudia and Jamie, find themselves caught up in the mystery of an angel statue that the museum purchased at an auction for a bargain price of $250. The statue is possibly an early work of the Renaissance master Michelangelo, and therefore worth millions. Is it? Or isn't it? Claudia is determined to find out. This quest leads Claudia to Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the remarkable old woman who sold the statue and to some equally remarkable discoveries about herself).

This is one of my husband’s all time favorite books – so we may have a daddy included in next month’s mother/daughter meeting. I was hoping for something a little more “brief” since this comes in between my fundraiser and spring break and my reading hours are non-existent – but it’s all about the girls!

Our Big Love Book group was a surprising success! And I don’t mean to imply that our other meetings are failures – but 20 minutes before our meeting, our book discussion designate called to inform me that her husband was stuck at work and she couldn’t make it! Yikes! Unfortunately for us, we weren’t able to benefit from K’s discussion preparation; however, we were lucky that in the library kit we used, they had prepared discussion topics and author info for us! Whew! No last minute GOOGLE searches on Roald Dahl! This was a fascinating, but creepy book. One where you ponder, “what happened in his childhood that he could create such freaky stories?” And I mentioned in my brief book review that I wasn’t sure what we would really talk about – but trying to ponder and discuss such twisted storytelling really was verbally stimulating.

Our next book is These Is My Words by Nancy Turner. I read this book last year and LOVED IT!! I’m not going to be at our next meeting because we will be on our way to Washington DC for spring break, so I’m glad we selected a book I’ve already read. I think I will try to “conference call” into book group from the road!

It was a great literary week.

Today marks the TWO WEEK mark until my fundraiser! The quote, “what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger,” certainly is appropriate!!