Tag Archives: Book Club

Friday Stuff

Coffee and a Book

It’s Friday!! Thank goodness. The week felt so long to me. Mostly because The Girl came down with a cold. She was sneezy and grumpy and totally out of it and that tends to throw me off my game. But, she’s better now and back to her perky self.

Do any of you read before work? I get to work super early to avoid traffic snarls so I have the luxury of getting a little reading in before I start my day. Typically, I’m walking during this time and the book in question is an audio book but my walking has been non-existent since the break so right now, it’s me sitting in my windowless office with a book and a cup of coffee. It’s kinda like a little reading cave. You’ve got to use your imagination when you never see the light of day.

At some point today, I need to think of some books to pitch for the big book selection meeting on Saturday. The book club that I’m in picks books for the year which tends to work out really well for most of us. But, it’s a big deal. We each get to pitch a book and then vote on it. I really have no idea what to pitch. I came across Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick which looks like it would be a good discussion book, but I’m not sure. Has anyone read it?

Never Fall Down
The rest of the weekend will be spent looking up recipes for the Super Bowl. For the past. I don’t know, five years, we have not been able to go to a Super Bowl party because the kids were always in a production that weekend. This year, production week begins the following week so we actually get to enjoy the Super Bowl like normal people! I can’t tell you how excited I am about this. So, I plan to make something really killer to take to the party. Did I just say KILLER?

Happy Friday! Hope you all have a good weekend.

Book Clubs

I’ve mentioned it a few times here on the blog but I’ve been a member of a book club for 14+ years. Wow. How can that be? Anyway, the club has been around forever and for years and years I’ve enjoyed it but recently, say within the past year it’s been a struggle. I can’t really say it’s due to any one thing but the biggest issue is probably just new people and how some of them just rub me the wrong way. I read the books but I am not attending the meetings. I haven’t really decided what to do long-term.

I considered starting another club but conflicting schedules are always an issue and I know if I do not have a set date and time it will get bumped and I would hate for that to happen. Plus, the new people component. I am a friendly type for the most part but stupid people piss me off. I’ve no patience for stupidity or rudeness and it’s impossible to keep them out when you create a public group.

So then I considered an online club but do they work? Are they fun? I’ve been IN a few and although I loved the hosts and we talked on the side about the book, the conversation piece of the group (between all of the members) was challenging. To really get in on the conversation you have to turn notifications on and when you get dozens of emails dumped into your inbox you suddenly get resentful. The online clubs I am referring to were setup in Goodreads. If you use another venue that works better, let me know.

I think that is why I enjoy blogging so much. I love to talk about books with all of you and although there are many of you that I haven’t met in person, I’ve gotten to know you pretty well. These days, interactions span several days (if not weeks) and flit across social media platforms such at Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. There is not a day that goes by where I am not connecting with readers in some way and I love it! No time constraints either. I can wake at 4am and know that someone is out there talking about books. It’s like a dream to me.

So my question for you is this:

Do you think traditional (face to face) book clubs are as popular as they were three years ago? Why, or why not?