I don't write here all that much anymore so I don't remember if I mention it or not, but I'm hosting a monthly Book Club meeting for alumni of my college in the Bay Area.
Our goup in on the Peninsula is a little different than the other groups (one in San Francisco, one in the East Bay and one way up north somewhere), in that we seems to like a quirkier read than the other groups.
After the first book, which was picked for us and we almost universally hated, we've ventured our own way, picking the next selection at the current meeting. Our most recent read was a graphic novel. No words at all in fact. And I loved it. It's haunting, emotional, strange and beautiful. Very unexpected.
The group left a couple of hours ago and I'm exhausted from picking up, so I'm not going to give any book reviews, but if you're curious, here's what we've read so far and what's coming up, including what we eat to accompany the wine and discussion. I wasn't too sure about taking on always hosting this thing, but I'm growing to enjoy it more each time. And it's forcing me to read again, which seemed to have gotten lost as one of my favorite activities.
Our first book. We had middle eastern food to talk about how much we didn't like almost anything about this first selection.
Next up was a selection from an author who also went to school at Carleton. We had Vietmanese food and were much happier discussing this immigrants story.
Pulling the thread of "strangers in a strange land", memoir and the challenges of translation from the first two books, the next two selections were a fun romp imagining what would happen if the Greek Gods were alive today and living in a run down house in London, and the beautiful graphic novel, "The Arrival."
The next couple of selections coming up also rather odd choices. I'm not exactly sure what to serve on these upcoming meetings, but I'm sure reading them will inspire me to think of something.
