A bit of humor to balance a bad day
Have I ever mentioned how much I love my book club and the fine group of 10 or 12 ladies who gather each month?
We’ve been together for nearly 10 years, thanks to our founder Laurie Pappas, who owns the Coach House Seafood & Steak (delish!) in Black Mountain.
A year after she lost her precious daughter, Katy, she found herself lonely and enjoying friends who’d come around and try to cheer her up.
“I thought having a book club would give us purpose to get together, as well as keep me reading on a regular basis,” this mother of three from north Asheville said.
So in the fall of 2003, she founded our book club. We don’t really have a name – or rather have had a couple but none stuck. What did stick, however, were the bonds we made over the past decade, many of the original members still active and meeting once a month on a Monday evening in each other’s homes.
We’ve all been together since our kids were in elementary school, and were there for each other during transitions, graduations, proms, colleges and other milestones and even a few missteps.
Sometimes we talk more about our kids and our lives than the book, but that’s all right by me, and often the conversations are either hilarious or healing.
We are women, after all. And women do tend to get off topic, which is why having girlfriends is so important.
The other day I opened an Oprah newsletter, which I normally never do. It was about book clubs and what “Never to Say” at such meetings. I simply had to click on that link.
While our group typically enjoys rousing evenings during our “meetings,” I think we’ve all broken a few of Oprah’s rules.
She begins her blog with this opener:
“We love reading. We love the company and conversation. We love the stuffed mushrooms and potluck pinot noir. But every now and then, somebody says something that we really, really wish they hadn’t – especially, when that somebody is us.”
OK, I’m guilty as charged. I’ve done a few things at book club meetings I’ve come to regret, but let’s not get into that. Here is a partial list from the Oprah rant about what not to say when wining and dining and book discussing with your besties.
Her first no-no was asking members, “Who liked the book and who didn’t?” I find nothing wrong with this question. We’re always voting and rating the books at the end of each session, usually after downing all the appetizers and beverages (lemonade, of course) at the hostess’s home.
Her second point of contention was throwing out problems during book club meetings, such as “Dealing with my kids/boss has been crazy – I couldn’t get past the first chapter.”
Guilty. While most come to book club to escape stress and reality, we’re always talking about various jobs, problems, losses and successes. This chitchat is as important for us as discussing The Book.
Oprah says if you didn’t have time to read the selection, sit quietly and nibble the cheese dips. Yep, or as I say, scan the cheat sheets on the book and “pretend” to have read it. I didn’t just say that.
One of my favorites that the Queen of Books claims isn’t a cool question is, “Who picked this book, anyway?” Makes a gal turn 50 shades of crimson.
We’ve been together for nearly 10 years, thanks to our founder Laurie Pappas, who owns the Coach House Seafood & Steak (delish!) in Black Mountain.
A year after she lost her precious daughter, Katy, she found herself lonely and enjoying friends who’d come around and try to cheer her up.
“I thought having a book club would give us purpose to get together, as well as keep me reading on a regular basis,” this mother of three from north Asheville said.
So in the fall of 2003, she founded our book club. We don’t really have a name – or rather have had a couple but none stuck. What did stick, however, were the bonds we made over the past decade, many of the original members still active and meeting once a month on a Monday evening in each other’s homes.
We’ve all been together since our kids were in elementary school, and were there for each other during transitions, graduations, proms, colleges and other milestones and even a few missteps.
Sometimes we talk more about our kids and our lives than the book, but that’s all right by me, and often the conversations are either hilarious or healing.
We are women, after all. And women do tend to get off topic, which is why having girlfriends is so important.
The other day I opened an Oprah newsletter, which I normally never do. It was about book clubs and what “Never to Say” at such meetings. I simply had to click on that link.
While our group typically enjoys rousing evenings during our “meetings,” I think we’ve all broken a few of Oprah’s rules.
She begins her blog with this opener:
“We love reading. We love the company and conversation. We love the stuffed mushrooms and potluck pinot noir. But every now and then, somebody says something that we really, really wish they hadn’t – especially, when that somebody is us.”
OK, I’m guilty as charged. I’ve done a few things at book club meetings I’ve come to regret, but let’s not get into that. Here is a partial list from the Oprah rant about what not to say when wining and dining and book discussing with your besties.
Her first no-no was asking members, “Who liked the book and who didn’t?” I find nothing wrong with this question. We’re always voting and rating the books at the end of each session, usually after downing all the appetizers and beverages (lemonade, of course) at the hostess’s home.
Her second point of contention was throwing out problems during book club meetings, such as “Dealing with my kids/boss has been crazy – I couldn’t get past the first chapter.”
Guilty. While most come to book club to escape stress and reality, we’re always talking about various jobs, problems, losses and successes. This chitchat is as important for us as discussing The Book.
Oprah says if you didn’t have time to read the selection, sit quietly and nibble the cheese dips. Yep, or as I say, scan the cheat sheets on the book and “pretend” to have read it. I didn’t just say that.
One of my favorites that the Queen of Books claims isn’t a cool question is, “Who picked this book, anyway?” Makes a gal turn 50 shades of crimson.
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