Oddly enough, in all my years as a voracious reader, I've never belonged to a book club. There was a time, early in my marriage when I read and reported on books for my mother-in-law who did belong to one and somehow rarely got around to reading the selected book when it was her turn to report on it. But I've attended any number of book clubs as the speaker, when they were reading one of my books, and always enjoyed the lively discussions (and the food and the wine too.) Now I find myself in a very select book club sort of a thing. My friend Allegra and I exchange piles of books and have lunch and chat about this and that. Several months may pass between our 'meetings' and no one has to make a report on what she's read. If I'm particularly inspired by one of the books, I may email Allegra and tell her so but, so far at least, there's been no detailed analysis of any given book -- in spite of (or perhaps because of) the fact that she's a retired English teacher and I put in nine years as one. You see in these two pictures the wealth she brought me yesterday. An interesting assortment in the top photo -- I'm looking forward especially to the Patchett and the Chevalier books. And in the bottom photo, the entire Shetland series. I loved the series on television but had never read any of them. I've already deep into the first (not pictured) Raven Black and am not disappointed. Undoubtedly I'll be reporting on my reading here--in this online extension of our very small book club. Any suggestions as to what I'm most likely to enjoy in the top photo?
