all grown up

I want to follow up about the book club that Alex casually mentioned in her last post. It's true. We are in a book club, and sometimes we even bring baked goods to our meetings. But, for all you readers out there, let me tell you, book clubbing is great fun.

Ours was born out of the desire to keep brain cells alive and social lives ablaze. So far so good. On Tuesday night, Alex and I, along with our friends Sara and Nili, got together to eat good food (ginger chicken, risotto and roasted veggies from Nili and a salad from Michael, plus those cupcake muffins), drink wine (something red) and discuss Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky.

Believe it or not, we do actually talk about the book during these meetings. Sometimes, Nili even brings a handout. All in all it is a great excuse to spend time with like-minded, intelligent, fun people. Plus, nothing makes me feel more grown up than drinking wine and discussing a book.

Our next selection is Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner. I have never read anything by this famed Faulkner but based on the enthusiasm of the other readers, I am looking forward to it. So much so that I tried to get it from the library yesterday morning, but they didn't have it. And of the SIX libraries on this little island, the only one that does carry this book happens to be the furthest library from my house. So, at the librarian's suggestion, I took advantage of this nifty little delivery service this network of island libraries concocted. Absalom, Absalom! will be delivered to the library nearest my house in 7-10 days.

While I drove home, quite satisfied with 2 books on photography, I began to wonder why on earth it is going to take 7-10 days for a book to get here from the other side of the island? I know I said it was coming from the furthest library away, but come on, that's all relative, we are on an ISLAND! I get mail from Denmark faster than that.

Not to mention 7-10 days puts me at a serious disadvantage in the reading game. This is a competitive book club. The first person to finish the book WINS. I take comfort in knowing that this book that is being delivered from one island library to the other, just for me, is the only free copy on all of Martha's Vineyard, and I plan to keep it for the whole two weeks. If you factor in the time it will take to deliver the book back to it's home library, I will pretty much be in possession of Absalom, Absalom! for the next month. So Sara, Nili and Alex, looks like you're going to have to go out and buy your copies.

Ok we are not really competitive readers. Au contraire, I didn't even finish the first book we read (Wuthering Heights). During the meeting I nervously asked questions about people being kicked out of book clubs. I was assured that I could stay, but to make up for it I read Suite Francaise in record time and then raved about it throughout Tuesday's meeting.

I leave you here to begin preparations for a romantical Valentine's dinner (chicken fajitas, rice and beans, in case you were wondering).