My husband sometimes makes fun of me for reading...calls me a nerd...it annoys me. However, today, I think I just crossed the nerd line. I joined a book club meeting.
I haven't been reading near as much as I would like and last month I saw that there was a book club meeting taking place during our toddler story hour at the library. When I inquired about it, I was informed of the books they would be reading for the next several months. I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to be forced to sit down and read (yeah, it kills me to be forced to read). So, I picked up a copy of their next book...which happened to be the "All Iowa Reads" book. If you haven't heard of this, it is a book by a Midwest author, chosen by the state library for all of Iowa to read. It kind of brings all of the Iowa readers together to be able to discuss the same book.
Anyway, I read the book (Little Wolves by Thomas Maltman). It was strange. At times I didn't even want to finish it, but I just had to know what happened at the end, so I got through it. All in all, it was a good book. I returned it to the library when I was finished and then sort of forgot about it....until today.
We walked into the library for story hour (which we almost decided not to attend) and I saw that there were people gathering in the meeting room. OH CRAP, the book club meeting!! I had forgotten all about it. So, I got Rylee settled for story hour and I headed into the meeting. Since this was the All Iowa Reads book, there was already a list of discussion questions prepared for us. I have never participated in a book club, nor discussed a book in such detail. I have to say though, I thoroughly enjoyed it and am excited for the next one!
I think I have mentioned this before, but I am so intrigued by the way an event will take place and it ends up being a precursor to another event. What do I mean by this? Well last night I attended a camera club meeting (yes I nerd out with photography too) and we had a presentation by a lady from the art center. She spoke about the photographers who inspire her and I kid you not, the images she showed looked like they were taken by blind 2 year olds! But, nevertheless, she very much enjoyed them and she clearly verbalized what she enjoyed about each image. While I found her taste to be odd, I learned so much about critiquing art by listening to the words she was using and the emotions she was feeling from each image. I wasn't really sure what my "take away" was from that presentation until I got to the book club meeting today and had to discuss the book in the same way she discussed the images she showed.
I love to read. I love getting so caught up in a story that I forget what is real life and what I read in my book. Sometimes I want to tell someone about my friend (insert main book character here) and then I remember it's not real...just my story I'm reading. But, I have never stopped to think about the story from the author's point of view and what he or she wanted the reader to gain from the story. Authors spend so much time putting words down and they do it methodically so that they convey more than just the literal words. I, however just read the literal story. It makes me feel a little bad thinking about how much work the author puts into their masterpieces and knowing I don't dig too deep into them. After today's book discussion and seeing how much more to the book there really was than just the words I was reading, I think I will spend more time analyzing a book after I finish it. Perhaps I will search the internet for discussion questions and actually read the ones that are often times at the end of a book.
Another super exciting, total book nerd thing that happened at this meeting today is I found out the gal leading the discussion is the author of some of my favorite children's books!!!!!!! I felt star struck ;) How the heck is such a successful author from this teeny tiny rural Iowa town?!?!?! I'm pretty sure she thought I was loony when I made Rylee come meet her and I told her I felt like I was meeting a celebrity. Oh well.
Yes, I'm a book nerd. And, I'm proud.
No comments:
Post a Comment