I was very eager to attend the meeting as I've never been to a book club before and I'm still in the "Let's make new friends" mode. I figured I'd meet other American women who had a similar interest as myself.
The book club was held after hours at the library on base and it was pretty well organized. A couple ladies brought snacks and drinks, the leader had questions prepared and almost everyone (10 in total) had finished the book.
The first half of the club went swimmingly with the exception of the inevitable unrelated tangents and that ONE person who is always talking but not really saying anything.
Suddenly, the mood of the whole group shifted when one of the participants, lets call her Mary, didn't exactly agree with the majority on a discussion point and was getting flack for it. Mary asked, "what is the purpose of a discussion group if we all think the same thing?" Though I found myself in the majority on this particular discussion, I was now quite aware of this new dynamic that Mary had introduced.
The remainder of the discussion continued mostly as it had started (with a short hiccough when I expressed an opinion outside the majority) and in general I enjoyed meeting these 9 women who also enjoyed the book.
It didn't really sink in till I had some quiet time on the car ride home; what the heck is a book club for? You wouldn't continue reading a book you didn't like and so therefore you wouldn't go to that meeting. So a book club is a gathering of some people who all read the same book and generally had a similar opinion about that book. So whatis there to discuss?
I'm not sure I'm the book club type. Not only am I a slow reader, I usually read the same kinds of books and I hate to stir the beehive. No lively debate for me! No thank you. I'm a peace maker and I'm often intimidated to speak out in opposition to popular consensus. But I suppose I could continue going, if not to try new book genres then certainly to try new cookies.
