I'll tell you what really helped me get into the spirit of the evening was the kir royales that Martina made.
To make a kir royale, use one part Crème de cassis (a blood-red, sweet, blackcurrant flavored liqueur) to five parts champagne. Mmmm. I could use another one of those and it's not even 9:00 in the morning....
We had lively conversation. Martina's husband Walter, who is the head of the European Weather Centre, explained climate changes to me and how they model these changes and what it will mean if we ignore the majority of climate scientists who say we must do something now to save our planet.
Then we talked about Manju's recent trip to Trinidad and how much fun she had there. Here's Manju.
I noticed the evening was passing very quickly and we didn't even start discussing the book White Tiger by Aravind Adiga until 10:30.
I love my book club. Do you go to one?
11 comments:
I used to have a brilliant philosophy book club where we read the latest stuff, but at the time I was right on top of a good university so it was easier to find people with similar interests. I have the idea that I wouldn't find that in herts, but maybe that is wrong.
I do get together with the girls for drinks and fun (Thursday, in fact), and sometimes that's just the thing, but we seldom speak of books, for some reason.
I think there would be a lot of smart women in Herts who read books and drink Kir Royales. It's finding them that's the tough part.
I think book club is a misnomer.
Ladies' Drinking Society might be more accurate - the book bit is just an excuse.
I live in Herts, read books (slowly) and drink Kir Royales (quickly). I am not a member of a book club, partly because I worry about how long it takes me to read a novel these days, especially if it's not one I've chosen for myself, and partly because I feel like I really had enough of discussing books at University.
Recently, though, I joined a Writers' Circle, just as they were voting on a book that we would all read in order to learn about what makes a successful book. Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" won the vote.
I wasn't into the Teenage Romance genre even when I was a teenager so I struggled with it.
We are meeting next week to discuss it and if it's OK could I ask a question of those of you who went to High School in the US. Did you do the same subjects every day, including PE (Gym I think she called it)?
It's a long time ago, but I don't remember doing PE lesssons at all after the age of 16, and the timetable varied from day to day.
Thanks in advance for any input - it was just one of the things that puzzled me about that book!
I never had to do PE/gym because I was in the choir. What a trade off that was. I should have been doing some exercise but no, I was too lazy.
yes, they call it Gym & It would be two or three times a week or was in my school. I think I had the same classes at the same time for each semester.
When I first moved to Natchez almost 13 years ago, I was suffering from intellectual culture shock. So I started a book club - and we're still going strong. We're called the Natchez Women's Book Society.
At our Christmas Dinner each year, members volunteer to be the leader for a month. Each leader picks her own book. Consequently, we read a wide variety of books.
Check us out. Click on NWBS at www.caseyofnatchez.com.
Sadly, I don't belong to a book club and it's most likely due to (a) the same comment Helen made about reading too slowly, especially if I'm reading a book someone else chose; and (b) I don't think reading is high on the Chavs' list of priorities (god, I want to find a new house, soon!)
One of my favorite all-time books though is woven round a Literary Club in Ohio. It's "...And Ladies of the Club" by Helen Hooven Santmyer. It took her over 50 years to write; was originally 1, 344 pages long, but was edited down to 1174 and made her a best-selling novelist at the age of 88.
Helen, in Texas, PE classes were held everyday, but because I played volleyball and was in the marching band, I didn't have to participate.
Lisa, I LOVE "And Ladies of the Club. I love to read but don't seem to have friends who like the same books, so have never done a book club because my time is limited and I never wanted to invest it in stuff that didn't interest me. Plus, I enjoy finding a series (usually mystery) and reading them all in a row
Helen, in Michigan we had gym a couple times a week until we graduated. Don't think there were any exemptions, or I would have found a way as I hated orgazied sports.
Thank you for letting me have a peek into your lives (with book clubs or not.) It makes me happy to read snippets about your lives instead of me just going on and on about mine.
I think mel has this covered; it's what pubs were invented for surely?
Theresa! I need to re-read *And Ladies...*---LOVED it, years ago!
Hey, Eliz, y'all need to try Augusten Burroughs *Running with Scissors* and *Dry* and the late Caroline Knapp's *Drinking: A Love Story*---might help you poor gals with this little drinkin' problem:):)
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