On a Thursday night every 6-7 weeks, about eight to ten of my favourite women and myself, get together to catch up, eat some great food, drink some great wine, and discuss, more often than not, a great book. I am describing of course, your typical book club meeting.
It took me well over a year or two to be convinced that this would be something I would want to be a part of. I had met this wonderful group of women consisting of homemakers, lawyers, teachers, and entrepreneurs, through a neighbour of mine about 11 years ago. At that time, their book club was quite large and they had already read a number of interesting books. I was married with a 6 month old baby and two older step-daughters and thought that I had no time to read, and if I did, I had all these great books I had collected over the years that I would rather get into. To this day I don’t remember what made me decide to attend one of their meetings, but since that first one, I’ve never looked back. Maybe it was Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Fall On Your Knees, the first book I read with them, and the fascinating discussion that followed… Or maybe it was just the escape that this Thursday night offered me. Or maybe, it was just the wine! Whatever it was, being a member of my book club has become one of the things I treasure most in my life.
We always meet on a Thursday night, and it will always be after 8pm. We make sure that we have fed our families and that any little ones are already on their way to bed. This is mom’s time for herself! Usually each member will bring an appetizer or dessert and although we never assign specific plates, we always have a good variety of great food. And of course, we each bring a bottle of wine. Sometimes our choices are geared to the theme or setting of the book. The hostess is responsible for everything else such as soft drinks, coffee, tea, etc. We rotate throughout the year and although we don’t set up the calendar at the beginning, it still seems to work out that each person gets the chance to host. When you are the hostess, you pick the book. We always try to find the best deal (paperback or Costco) and then everyone is responsible for getting their own copy. We are a very easy-going group and understand that sometimes reading the book before the meeting is an impossible task, yet we welcome everyone to attend. We all have extremely busy lives and we respect that about one another.
A normal meeting will start with everyone just hanging out around the food table, enjoying our wine and catching up. It is truly a great way to force yourself to get out and spend quality time with women you enjoy being with. By around 10pm, which does seem rather late, we move to the sitting area that is set up in a circle and then one by one each person tells the group what they thought of the book. There is no time limit and it varies with each member. Quite often a comment may spark a dynamic discussion about our interpretations of the book or something that pertains to life in general (or to our lives specifically). We have had many an amazing discussion! Once we have even had one of the authors join us. That was our most insightful meeting to date as you can well imagine. There have been many laughs and even some tears, but overall, we respect each other’s opinions and more often than not, we leave these meetings (usually after midnight albeit) somehow changed….and usually, I would have to think, for the better.
