BOOK CLUB CLASSICS!

 
Photo by Gallebee
You may have noticed a little green box on the front of my site that says “Site Meter.”  This wonderful little program allows me to track how many visitors my site receives, from what location, and why.  Most days I have about 40 visitors, who spend about 4 minutes, from such diverse places as Ireland, Finland, the [...]

So, a few years ago my cousin came up with a great idea:  start a family book club!  My family is blessed with a week together every year between Christmas and New Year’s — my grandpa started this tradition in 1973 when I was 3 1/2 (I’m the oldest grandchild) and it has continued without interruption to today [...]

 
Photo by timtom.ch
Well, as my first series draws to a close, the difficult question of socializing must be addressed:  How much?  By nature, book clubs are social.  As I wrote in part 4, after we finish the solitary act of reading a  novel, we are anxious for the communal experience of discussing it.  However, depending [...]

Photo by stephmcg
Be sure that you go to the author to get
at his meaning, not to find yours.
~ John Ruskin ~
Another common quagmire that book clubs can fall into is negativity.  Or, closely related, the feeling that the discussion just doesn’t do the book justice. As stated in part one, book clubs are so popular [...]

 
Photo by guldjisken
Now that we’ve addressed the benefits of embracing a theme and choosing appropriate works, it’s time to tackle the reason we join book clubs in the first place: discussion.  As an introvert, I am intimately aware of how I used to allow others to voice their opinions while keeping my own quiet.  My [...]