Um, what happened to 2008?

Somehow, the blog died in 2008, but I'm trying to resurrect it for 2009. The reading list is posted, and I'm hosting the first book club of the year tomorrow night. I have to take the day off to make sure my house is clean, and everyone has something to eat. The menu looks like it will be salad, a filo veggie roll from Moosewood, steamed asparagus, and something made of chocolate for dessert. After tomorrow, I may pass the virtual pen to the other hosts so they can post for the month they host. We'll see how that goes...

June Meeting

Susan hosted our meeting last night, and everyone made it! We miss Donna Lee, but got an update about her amazing apartment in NY.

Sue prepared a delicious Mexican feast including a build-your-own soft taco bar, and frozen margaritas. I need a picture of the margarita machine just to spice up the blog a bit. After we stuffed our faces, we talked about Halfway House. Most of us have limited experience with mental illness, so it was interesting to hear from the people who have relatives or friends suffering from depression or bi-polar disorder. Seems that the author did a pretty good job building out the main character and all her quirks. Generally, people enjoyed the book, but thought the second half was a bit slow.

Ashley discovered that an old college pal is a published author, and we are considering adding her first novel When We Got There to our reading list this year. If not this year, it will likely be on the 2008 reading list when it's available in paperback. She promises to have the author join the meeting (at least via conference call) to answer questions about the book.

We had a lovely bitch session about work and clients over dinner. I'm grateful for the advice I received from everyone about lowering my standards and not getting so wrapped up in work.

14 days and counting

I added a gadget to the blog to count down the days until the next meeting. I have a tendency to wait until the last possible second to read the book, so this is a constant reminder for me. Thankfully, Kore is organized and kind enough to locate the book, read it, and then share it with me. If not for her, I probably would've missed most of the books this year!

How it all began

Welcome to the Unbearable Lightness of Reading! I registered our book club at the local Chapter 11 bookstore to get discounts for the group on our book selections. The clerk told me that we needed to have a name in order to register, so I had to come up with a name on the fly. We'd just read Milan Kundera's book, and that was the obvious inspiration for our name.

I joined the group about 6 years ago after being invited by the only friend I made during a brief employment stint at MindSpring. I hated the job, but looking back, it was worth all the suffering to be able to join the club.

So, here's how our book club works. The group consists of 11 women. We meet the last Tuesday of the month, and the host selects the book, feeds the group, and leads the discussion. December is a potluck holiday party, and we select the books for the coming year. We started keeping a scrapbook (although none of us are scrapbookers), and each month, we add notes about the books we've read. We've lost a few members -- one recently had twins, and another moved back to NY just this week -- and I though a blog would be a good way for us to stay in touch.

Happy reading!