Early today, while preparing for tonight's discussion, I was temporarily sidetracked thinking about the celebration planned to mark the 100th book my club has read since our maiden voyage in January 2017. Tonight's book - #99 - was Tar Baby (1981) by Toni Morrison. As usual, it was a stimulating, enriching discussion. Book #100 - A Marriage at Sea (2024) by Sophie Elmhurst - will be discussed at our September meeting. Then, that celebration.
Since realizing months ago that this milestone was approaching, I've been vibrating with excitement, thinking of ways to try to make the event memorable. But even if my planning goes awry, how bad can it be to commune for an evening with other bookworms about our shared adoration of literature? Five of the people who will be at the celebration - including my partner of 48+ years - have been in the club from its inception. (That book - in case you're keeping track - was Founding Brothers (2000) by Joseph Ellis.) The rest of the folks who may attend the event? Mostly hardcore bibliophiles. How cool will this be?
Though I haven't kept close track (honest!) for the nine + years the club has overlapped with my blog, I'd estimate I've published at least twenty-five posts about books the club has either read or is about to read. After all, I only publish about books that have moved me, the same criteria used for putting a book in the queue for the club. Most recently? The two posts directly below highlight the selections for September & December. If reading these posts whets your appetite enough to read either or both of these winners - or even if you're just thinking about reading one or both - consider yourself an ex-officio member of the club. And celebrate with us from wherever you are.
Reflections from the Bell Curve: Being Truly Tested
Reflections from the Bell Curve: The Bee Sting
I have to comment as I have read both of the books you reference and I read them before you mentioned them on the blog (no prize needed, hold your applause). My book club just discussed A Marriage At Sea last week for our August meeting, and I read The Bee Sting in early 2025 on my own as there is no way I could get my book club to look past the 600+ page investment. Congrats on 100 books!
ReplyDeleteMarisa; You get Brownie points for having read both books BEFORE I did. Let's you & I make a phone date to talk about The Bee Sting - holy shit! In the meanwhile, since you are already on the book club's e-mail list, and you attended the 2020 ZOOM book jam, you are already ex-officio. Good to have you with us. And thanks for the comment.
DeletePat congratulations on #100 --an auspicious number! I think a good book group, like yours, becomes an academy--like the one formed Plato. And I consider myself ex-officio since I've been a drop-in. Now, if I can only get myself to read books published after 1900 I could be full-fledged. That said--the meeting Kim led with Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" was a banger.
ReplyDeleteRegina; Thanks for the comment. And from now feel free to call me Pato; nice mash-up of me with that cave guy.
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