Book Club

In June a friend from the village organised a charity book swap. We were all supposed to take books we’d read and loved and buy those offered by others to raise money. This was difficult for me as I rarely part with a book and especially not one I’ve read and loved. Fortunately I found something I had two copies of and, of course, lots I was keen to buy.

Surrounded by books, mostly by Sophie Kinsella as no-one seemed to be grabbing those, I asked if anyone was interested in starting a Book Club. The answer was an enthusiastic yes. Inspired by having something other than our children to talk about, we made plans and our first meeting is this week, the book Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale. I plan to share our thoughts on the book in this blog.

What I have found most exciting is how starting this book club has fired us up. The day after the book swap, many of us met with our children at another village event, the church fete. We were all still exhilarated and gabbling about books, enthusing about recommendations and what we were going to read. Husbands were muttering about how maybe they should start a beer discussion club. Many of us have been inspired to read more again, remembering how much we love books and how therapeutic reading can be. I think the buzz is to have a mutual focus other than our children and school events, something else to challenge our brains. It has also demonstrated to me, again, the importance of being part of a community; how sharing something, anything, with other people, can be so uplifting.