Not long ago I joined a book club. It was an attempt on my part to become more sociable, a skill that seems to be slipping away from me as the years go by. I find conversation more and more difficult, probably because I have less and less to say.
I missed the first meeting for some reason, maybe because I hadn't read the book, though it seems that doesn't bother some people, who turned up anyway. So anyway having flunked the first meeting, I gritted my teeth and made the effort to go to the next one. I had no idea what to expect, and frankly, my first thought went along the lines of what am I doing here. I felt like I was at the dentists with a room full of strangers waiting for something to happen. There are thirteen of us, enough for a coven, and the first meeting did feel very odd. The chosen book for that one was We are all beside ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, not something that I would have chosen to read, but as it happens I did read it and found it reasonably interesting. The meeting though had a weird formality to it, each person in turn giving their own particular opinion and once we had all had a say, that was it, meeting over and the next book chosen.
The next book was The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth. Again a book that I may never have picked up as it is written in verse. However I did read it and found it strangely compelling. So I turned up to the next meeting. Opinions divided between those who loved it and those that didn't get past the first page or two. I tried to broaden the discussion and did have a degree of success though I still know almost nothing of the other members of the group and would be hard pressed to recognise any of them in a crowd. Most of them have been together as a group for quite some time and i am still a newcomer and a old fart at that.
I am not sure that it is helping me to enhance sociability, there is a get together dinner taking place next month and I cannot make that which is a pity but I probably won't be the only one. I will stick with it for a while anyway and if nothing else it gives me a new range of reading material.
The current book is To Kill a Mockingbird and it takes me back to my schooldays and O level English. I am sure that there will be plenty of issues raised in the next discussion - maybe we should take along some old O level papers and see how we do.
I missed the first meeting for some reason, maybe because I hadn't read the book, though it seems that doesn't bother some people, who turned up anyway. So anyway having flunked the first meeting, I gritted my teeth and made the effort to go to the next one. I had no idea what to expect, and frankly, my first thought went along the lines of what am I doing here. I felt like I was at the dentists with a room full of strangers waiting for something to happen. There are thirteen of us, enough for a coven, and the first meeting did feel very odd. The chosen book for that one was We are all beside ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, not something that I would have chosen to read, but as it happens I did read it and found it reasonably interesting. The meeting though had a weird formality to it, each person in turn giving their own particular opinion and once we had all had a say, that was it, meeting over and the next book chosen.
The next book was The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth. Again a book that I may never have picked up as it is written in verse. However I did read it and found it strangely compelling. So I turned up to the next meeting. Opinions divided between those who loved it and those that didn't get past the first page or two. I tried to broaden the discussion and did have a degree of success though I still know almost nothing of the other members of the group and would be hard pressed to recognise any of them in a crowd. Most of them have been together as a group for quite some time and i am still a newcomer and a old fart at that.
I am not sure that it is helping me to enhance sociability, there is a get together dinner taking place next month and I cannot make that which is a pity but I probably won't be the only one. I will stick with it for a while anyway and if nothing else it gives me a new range of reading material.
The current book is To Kill a Mockingbird and it takes me back to my schooldays and O level English. I am sure that there will be plenty of issues raised in the next discussion - maybe we should take along some old O level papers and see how we do.
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