Clubbing

Once upon a time I was in The Best Book Club Ever. That wasn't its official title, but it might as well have been. We would talk for hours about the books we had read. We would share our insights and our questions. We developed wonderful friendships.

When my time in that book club came to an end, I mourned. I missed it terribly. I found another book club in our new ward and anxiously read the assigned book. I arrived the night of my first book club ready to discuss and ask questions and be edified. We talked about the book for thirty minutes, then proceeded to talk about the "super-cute" refreshments for another thirty.

I left crestfallen.

My expectations, it appeared, were way out of whack. No book club would be able to live up to the memory of The Book Club That Filled My Soul. I attended the new group a handful of times, then just stayed home and read books on my own.

I related the disappointing book club experience to a good friend who had been in The Magical Book Club of Wonder with me. She shared her own less-than-satisfactory book club experiences with me. I don't remember who had the idea originally, but in a moment of brilliance we decided that we would form our own book club. We were in two different states, so our meetings would take place over Skype or Google Hangouts. We made a list of books we wanted to read, picked one, and scheduled our first official book talk.

We've now had several meetings of our miniature book club. Last night we talked about To Kill a Mockingbird. I've been saying for years that it was one of my favorite books and I was relieved to find that, in the eighteen years since I first read it, my opinion of the book has not changed. My perspective and understanding have grown, but my love for the book has remained.

My new book club is one of the highlights of my month. Not only do we have wonderful discussions about the books we've read, we also have a chance at least once a month to catch up with each other, which is pretty marvelous. And though I'm no longer part of The Book Club of Mythic Proportions, I'm delighted with my Exactly What I Need Book Club that I have now.