Books and Book Groups

Book group meets tomorrow. We are doing Wild Swans, based on my recommendation. I was a little nervous that some members of the group would be intimidated by the size of the book, and all the Chinese names and geography. But, from the feedback I've already gotten back so far, a lot have read/are reading it and they really like it. I'm happy about that. My fear was that, for whatever reasons, everyone would come to book group, but no one would have read the book.

A while ago, there was a guest post on FMH about reading and book groups. There's something so great about reading a book and then talking about it. I wanted to post the comment I made there here because I've thought about it a lot since then. It summarizes my experiences with reading and book groups.

I have always loved reading and books. I have lots of books, and I always look at other people’s bookshelves when I’m in their home to see what they read and what they choose to own. Reading is a litmus test for me in some regards too.

But, it wasn’t until my last ward in Pittsburgh that I read with a book group. It was an amazing first group. Although all Mormon women, nothing was off limits. Everyone was brilliant and there were also lots of strong feminist voices. We read widely and talked late into the night. I cherish the perspectives that I gained from that group. It was the first time I really started to appreciate the talking life of books. I loved what we could share about ourselves through our relating to the books we read. I loved the safe forum for talking about questions in the church and for our lives as women. I miss that group!

When we moved to our new ward in suburbia, the group of women in the ward was much more traditional. A fledging book group had started, and I helped it take off and become more regular. There are a lot of things they wouldn’t want to read, and a lot of things that we wouldn’t talk about. But, I still find that books give us a ground on which to get to know each other in ways that we wouldn’t have otherwise. This past month, we read Chaim Potok and talk about Jewish orthodoxy. There were a lot of issues that resonated into Mormon life. On occasion, though, I have left the group feeling depressed.

Blogging, as much as I like it, is a poor substitute for real-life interaction for me. It’s hard for me to keep track of different voices in the bloggernacle, save for a few, and I am not active enough to feel like anyone knows who I am. It is a good outlet, but I long for personal relationships. On my own blog, I have been writing about the books I read, and I love the process of writing to lay out my thoughts and focus myself. I find that, at times, writing helps me find myself in a book and I love that.

Personally, one of the best things that’s happened in recent past is the development of a friendship with a woman who is a fierce feminist, intellectual, but committed and believing Mormon. Just my type of friend! And we have decided to spend the summer reading together about Mormon women’s history. I’m so excited!