Book Club

So last month I joined a book club.

I've always been a reader. When I was a kid, I would often devour a novel in a day. I remember riding my bike to piano lessons each week and stopping at the library on my way home to exchange 5 "chapter books" for 5 new ones. I would get immersed into a book and not be able to put it down until I had finished it. I pity people who aren't able to do that. There is nothing more amazing, than shutting out the rest of the world and being drawn into a good story.

But somewhere in the last 20 years - well about as long as I've been teaching full time - I've stopped reading for pleasure.  Oh I still read a lot - but most are non-fiction books related to work, travel, triathlon etc.  I usually manage to read a couple of novels every summer, but during the rest of the school year, it just isn't happening. I can think of a million reasons why I didn't read during the school year - too busy with my kids, too busy with work, too tired, too much TV replaced by too much internet - but gradually those reasons just turned into habit.

So I thought about it and I wondered why I don't seem to be able to carve out any quality reading time now.  I don't have little kids at home any more, my work life is more streamlined, and all I really need to do is turn off the screens an hour a day and read. For pleasure. Just do it.

So right around the time that I was thinking this - or maybe I thought it out loud and someone heard me - a friend/work colleague suggested we start up a book club.  We'll meet once a week and drink wine and eat treats, and maybe talk about the book we've agreed to read. I've never been a part of a book club but the idea has always intrigued me and I thought this would be the ideal way to give me the kick start I need to get back to reading for pleasure. Immediately a dozen people from my school jumped on the idea and our first meeting was scheduled for November.

The first book we read was All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.  We met last week and had a great time discussing the book, and eating and drinking....  I loved it.  And I loved powering through a good novel.  At our meeting, we set the dates for the next six months or so, and each person chose a book and signed up to host that month. 

Although I am a techie through and through, and I have a dozen books on my ipad, I love having a real book in my hands, and I decided that I wanted to actually own every book we read in this group, so when I got home, I immediately ordered all of the books from Amazon (although I picked up one from a local book store).

Here's a list of what we are going to read before the end of June.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Love Anthony by Lisa Genova
Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbury
Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
East of Eden by John Steinbeck

I am so excited that today I spent at least an hour updating my Goodreads account and creating new shelves.  If you want to be friends on Goodreads, feel free to add me. I'm Kelownagurl of course!

Read on!