One–Time Only Book Club

When a friend asked me to help her organize a book club, I was reluctant. The idea of regulated reading in my not-so-spare time made me hesitate. “Don’t worry, it’ll be the one-time only book club,” she exclaimed.

Neither of us had ever been part of a book club before, so we used our common sense to begin. One: pick a book – Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Two: choose members – five to six people who will share thoughtful insight and bring delicious snacks. Three: set a date and time – the offseason in Door County, in-between January and March vacations.

Wine, appetizers and desserts filled a table as we shared laughs, opinions and even an occasional demonstration of feelings about the book. When we had thoroughly discussed the book and said “goodbye” to our friend in Boulder City, NV on Skype, we decided that it would be fun to watch the movie based on our book of choice.

While watching the film version of Water for Elephants, we created our own commentary, which included phrases such as: “That wasn’t how it happened in the book!” “I don’t like how they did that in the movie.” “That scene was so much better in the book.” “What happened to the scene where…”

In the end, I realized that starting a book club was a lot easier than I had expected. My friend and I also learned that while the idea of a one-time only book club is amusing, we had too much fun to limit ourselves to one meeting and may need to rename it the annual book club. (We are also planning a sequel to this book club meeting and will be taking a trip to Baraboo, WI to visit the Circus World Museum this fall.)