Of Wine and Books

One of the things I look forward to every month is the neighborhood bookclub. Few things in life give so much pleasure with so little expectation. Our evenings always consists of good wine, good friends and usually a good book. You don't even have to have read the book to attend the monthly meetings. In fact we have have times where only 1 or 2 people have actually started reading the book, much less finished it. This has often prompted spouses to say "Are you sure this is a bookshelf?"

I know there are some bookclubs that are very serious about their mission - and so are we. Our mission is more along the lines of good friends getting together to talk and laugh and share, and occasionally cry, while exchanging ideas and thoughts about books.

The bookclub has been in existence for over 15 years. I joined when my oldest was about 1. It gave me a chance to get out of the house and talk to other Moms, share the frustrations and joys of motherhood. At that time we were reading Norton Anthology of Short Fiction The idea was that we would read 2-3 short stories since we were all busy. I have to admit, short or not, I would often perch the book on my son's high chair as I spooned creamed sweet potatoes in his mouth before running out the door to bookshelf or would francially read as I was preparing supper. You could tell what the Smith's had for supper by the bits of stains on the various pages.

We soon graduated to real books- after a particularly depressing run of stories. Our process was simple. Every September we would gather together with book suggestions. By the end of the night we would have our schedule laid out for the next 9 months.

As the kids have gotten older, I have been more faithful in both my attendance in bookclub as well as my reading. This group has broadened not only my mind, but also my heart.

At the last bookclub, I realized that another generation of young moms had joined the neighborhood and our bookshelf, bringing their experiences to our group. At one end of the room we discussed ACT scores and college acceptances, on the other side they talked about toddlers bed times and babysitters. Connie turned to me and said "You know it is funny, you are where I was when you started. " "Yes," I replied, "We are no longer the young ones." Both of us looked over to Cookie who now lives in Connie's house and smiled. Books and friends, like wine just continue to get better with age.