Greetings, Tribe!
I’ve always wanted to be in a book club, but who has the time? Where do you even find such a thing?!
So, I started one. I messaged a few friends and voila!
Let’s be honest, I didn’t really have a plan. Taking turns selecting a book to read seemed like a good place to start, so that is just what we did.
We started with Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. I had heard several interviews with the author and was absolutely moved by his work. Absolutely heart breaking and eye opening for many of us.
Unlike many book clubs I’ve heard about, we actually discuss the books! It’s super easy to go online and find questions provided by libraries or schools around the country to help guide the discussion!
Next up was Talking To Strangers. This too offered many opportunities for us to look at our interactions with others differently as well as how society handles various certain issues and situations.
With this book, I ended up listening to it on Audible.com. This approach was much more moving for me as they had actual recordings of interviews and such. To hear the emotion and tone of these people who were examples of issues in our world was absolutely poignant.
We then read Far from the Tree by Andrew Solomon. First, none of us knew how long it was. It was a brick in paper form and over 40 hours of listening on audio. Ha!
After we got over the shock at the length, we were intrigued by the content. The author identified several examples of people who are considered “not normal” by society. From autism to homosexuality, the author studied how a child with these differences fits in a family and then into adulthood. The choices, the struggles and the joys that the family and child must confront throughout life.
Another eye opening read that offered great self reflection and discussion!
Lastly, we decided to finish the year on a lighter note with Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center. This was a quick and easy read. Several of us in the group decided it was Hallmark Channel worthy, but it did have a nice theme of a woman reinventing herself.
I truly enjoyed all of the books this year. My favorites were the Bryan Stevenson and Malcom Gladwell selections. Andrew Solomon’s might have been better enjoyed in the abridged version. It was a lot of information to take in. Finally, Katherine Center’s book is great if you literally need something easy to digest and pure entertainment.
2021 will have a theme, we’ve decided. We will be focusing on “The Classics.” Books we never read in school and those we probably weren’t mature enough to fully appreciate.
Happy trails, friends!
