Book Club Experience

For my book club blog, I attended Professor Erin’s Lisa Simpson book club. I live really close to the library she works at, so I thought stopping in the book club would be fun! The book of the month was Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, which I was lucky enough to have read a few weeks prior for fun! I was a little nervous going into the book club, I have never done one before! Sure, I’ve met with friends in bars to discuss a specific book we were jazzed on for hours, but that is infrequent, informal, and buzzed. My undergraduate degree is in English Literature, so discussing books isn’t foreign to me, but I had read The Old Man and the Sea for fun, I didn’t really take notes or prepare for a discussion of the book on an academic level. Either way, I decided to jump in, and I had my fears alleviated within the first couple of minutes.

I’m habitually early, awkwardly early sometimes, before job interviews I tend to sit in the parking lot for at least 45 minutes. This was also the case as I arrived in the community room of the library. I was so early the lights were off, but luckily another book club member was early too, who happened to be more familiar with the room, she found the light switch and we stepped inside. Making small talk that turned to us taking a seat in the room and staring at our phones for a bit, I felt much more normal. I was wondering how many people show up to book clubs on a Wednesday night, the room could have uncomfortably held 50, a comfortable 30 or so, and when we started we had six around two tables that had been pushed together. I was even more relieved, six is a comfortable size for new social interactions for me, I once took an undergraduate Latin class that had only 3 students, if someone missed a day it was the worst! So now that I’ve set the scene, and you know what I felt like going into the book club you probably want to know how it went right?

Who cares?! Erin brought popcorn! Food has a way in general of greasing conversation and making people comfortable (especially me), and I can’t tell you how much more comfortable I felt when a bag of popcorn was passed my way with a Styrofoam cup to dump it in. I know it sounds silly, but it was just a feeling, I didn’t challenge it, I just remember it. As we were passing the popcorn around, we also had some arts and crafts! I don’t think I’ve colored anything since I’ve been a grown man, but Erin passed around half sheets with Hemingway in a wool sweater with a marlin jumping in the background, and everyone started coloring, so I joined in. Craft-time bookended our discussion, pictures of Hemingway in the beginning, and making magnets of the book cover and Lisa Simpson at the end.  Now that I’m reflecting on the experience, I am appreciating the setup of the evening even more. The book club I attended was full of friends, friends who have known each other or been connected for a decent chunk of time (college). Their lives are interconnected in the ways we all are connected with our social groups, one member didn’t have time to finish the book, and another didn’t bother with reading it at all but still showed up. For some reason, I never would have guessed this about a book club, but the social interactions can be the most important part of the club. The craft time at the beginning and the end allowed the group to talk about other things (cats mostly) before talking about the book, getting all the normal questions you have for a friend about your last meeting or the last thing you talked about out of the way, while still doing a quirky little activity. I should also say that I felt very welcomed, everyone there treated me like I wasn’t a random guy who showed up at a gathering of longtime friends, which I pretty much was, but I had a great time.

Since this was my first book club I have no way of comparing the actual discussion of the book to another book club. Compared to my English classes in college, it was a little briefer, but felt similar. Erin had prepared some talking points/ questions for the group, some were written by her, some were thought up in the moment, and some were borrowed from the web. Everyone participated, even the people who hadn’t read or finished the book! I wasn’t taking notes because it just would not have been appropriate in the situation, so I can’t remember everything we talked about. I recall a discussion of wondering how strong the old man was, the sadness of the boy, what period of time the book took place, the role of poverty in the book, and a touch on the role of symbolism (or the lack thereof if you ask Hemingway) in the book. The book club was more a group of friends that morphed into a book club when called, so there was no one talking out of turn or stealing the spotlight. Honestly, I know I can be long-winded, taking a long time to say something simple, so I may have been the one who talked most out of place. Nevertheless, I still felt welcomed, and the rest of the club was kind enough to respond to what I had said so I felt like I was fitting in.

In all, I had a great time, and I hope my surprise appearance wasn’t unwelcome! This has been a particularly weird blog to write because usually I would just assume my reading audience all has the same experience. Yet this time, Erin was there, but you the rest of my classmates were not, so I have framed this blog to your experience level. I’m going to switch now, and talk directly to Erin.

Thank you so much for making me feel welcome!  Your friends are funny, kind, and wonderful and I had a great time at your book club! Your setup (crafts and snacks) really help a new person coming into the club feel comfortable and you lead a great discussion!