My ward [church] has a ladies Book Club, which I signed on to join months and months ago when we first moved here; however have never attended because it is always held on a Friday night when I'm closing the restaurant and hence cannot attend. This month an email was sent out asking for a host for April-- I volunteered! Under the stipulation that I could only host on a non-weekend night. I am not sure how hosting works entirely, as I have never attended; but I have been given a binder with all the girls' contact information, a little pamphlet with title suggestions along with a handwritten list of potential titles [I assume this was created by the group during one of the fist meetings.] Having looked over the titles, there are some old favorites of mine; The Giver, Holes, The Secret Life of Bees... and then a lot of typical "Book Cluby Type Books;" Tuesdays With Morrie, The Five People You Meet In Heaven, Eat, Pray, Love, Fahrenheit 451... [bahahah, the movie adaptation was so chincy!]
Now, I have nothing against the titles on the book list, most are great books. However, we've all read them at one point or another, half of them I read as mandatory high school reading. See- they're great, but they're so expected. They are titles we've all been exposed to, whether we've read them or not-- they're probably on our Book Bucket List. The pamphlet comes from the city library which is likely the same reading list in all city libraries around the country. When volunteering to host I was rather excited to select a book from my always growing at home collection and expose the girls in the club to something new that I love! Something not so mainstream or even at least a little newer mainstream. I guess I just wanted to bring to the discussion one of the several great titles that were introduced to me by my beloved Literature Professor, Michelle Stewart, who introduced me to a world of wonderfully written Children's and YA novels! I was rather hoping to read an epistolary novel [The Perks of Being a Wallflower], one written in verse [Love That Dog & Hate That Cat] or a novel with use of alternating narrators [Flipped.] My top four picks right now are Th1rteen R3asons Why, Velvet Elvis, Walk Two Moons or The Realm of Possibility-- all of which are either not cataloged at our local library or all ten [yes, there are currently ten copies of Thirteen Reasons Why and all of them] are checked out! And wait-listed. I mean, who is reading these books!? Wonderful enlightened teens of Provo? That's great, really great. For them. But for my purposes-- I need those copies!
See, my book club has a lot of newlywed-starving college students [like Jordan and I!] as well as mothers and they can't all be expected to buy a new book every month... all the emails I have received from the previous months have been about circulation of a very few books which have been rented from the library. So it seems that the members are rotating a few shared books and unfortunately not obtaining copies of their own to read, mark, highlight, underline or dog-ear-- all those wonderful ways we book enthusiasts love to break in a new book to claim our own! [All my favorite books are about as marked up as my scriptures! I really dig into them.]
I also have the added trouble that since volunteers were asked for that means that April's title was not disclosed in the March Book Club Meeting, so the girls are already going to have a delay in reading the book and rotating whatever few copies I can get my hands on. Plus I am also inconveniencing them by moving the date forward to a Thursday evening. I haven't sent out the email yet to let them all know I am totally messing with their whole club, but really hope to get it out by tomorrow afternoon so they can all delve in to whatever story I wind up choosing as soon as possible. I realize I sound like a bit of a Lit-Snob right now, but a good story can change lives! Cheesy, I know, but tell me you've never experienced one of those books that you just can't put down... you're drawn in-- feeling all the emotions of your favorite characters, you tell yourself just one more chapter, but once you've finished the story, the characters-- they stay with you.
My first experience of this kind of book love was in 5th grade with The Giver. My teacher Mrs. Neylan was a bit of a rebel and introduced this book to our required reading list without hesitating to wonder whether our young minds would be able to handle the sometimes intense subject matter, she is a great teacher who understood that children will comprehend what you allow them to. My mother was furious when she read just a excerpt about the death of the less desirable twin, believing the content was too mature for her 11 year old daughter and went to the principal about it. My moms outrage made an impression on me, she was wrong to feel a need to limit me and it taught me that you really cannot "[don't] judge a book by its cover" Or one negative review you've read about it. Until you have read something cover to cover you cannot reasonably make a sound judgement on it, can you? [Unless it's Twilight!]
Well... in all this writing, I think I have decided upon a book I may choose. Drum-roll please..... American Born Chinese, it's a graphic novel, so it's a quick easy read. The library has 2 available copies and one due back the 12th. Plus I have my copy to loan out. It intermingles three stories which seem separate at first, but like the movie "Crash," they all come together in the end in ways you hadn't expected. The themes are easily discernible and good topic for discussion and it's something new I can bring to the group. I will go to the library first thing tomorrow morning to get a library card. [Man, that sounds so 4th grade! When I used to wait with my younger sister and older brother at the library during summer vacation days, reading all day waiting for my mom to get us after work.]
THE END.
2 comments:
It was actually Mrs. Neylan. (My spelling is wrong but phonetically its correct. I actually saw her a few months ago at the grocery store.) You have always loved books, and writing for that matter. You should write a book one of these days... Also, I keep meaning to tell you this, but it's one of those sort of odd ballish things; An acquaintance of mine from HS is the community relations manager at the Provo city library; Courtney Alameda Lowe. She's an awesome person, very nice, but much like us, she is her own person as well. Much like you she likes reading and writing, and she how's where to find Tracy on the map. If you really like your book club, maybe she can suggest the next book? Unless you want something that deals with science fiction or religious exploration & cultures, then feel free to hit me up!
Yes, Nelyan!! That's right! I knew it wasn't right even as I was typing it, but I was close, so I just went with it. Nelson sounded too generic! I remember about her many things, one is that her dad created the HEATH BAR and she brought in some for us before they hit the stores. That is my closest claim to fame... through her. haha. You should facebook your friends page to my facebook inbox so I can talk to her and we could hang out! If she's cool... :)
and sci-fi-- barf! hahah.
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