As summer winds to a close, the changing season triggers nostalgia for the childhood summer when I joined the Star Trek Book Club at my local library in Salinas. The Club challenged us to read 50 books in three months. I felt such a sense of accomplishment after I successfully completed the goal that I kept adding to my book reading list, even after summer ended. My next goal became to read 1,000 books. It was such a thrill when I was finally able to add that one thousandth title to my book list.
A book is always better if you have someone to share it with, so what could be more fun than sharing it with a group of friends who have read it too? As an adult, I recently discovered the joy of book clubs for the first time here in Gilroy. Just within my small circle of friends, I have gradually become aware of four different clubs that regularly meet for lively discussions. It makes me think that if all the Book Clubs of Gilroy could be added up, it would be quite an impressive number.
Some Gilroy clubs meet once a week; more often they meet every two weeks. One club combines special drink ideas with their book selection for their social time together. For instance, while discussing one of the best classic American novels of all time, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” they enjoyed a drink called, “Tequila Mockingbird.”
Some Gilroy clubs enjoy having each member read a different book and then each one reports on theirs to the others. Our club of seven members likes to read one book that everyone can discuss simultaneously. Our facilitator, Edna Holcomb, does a great job of leading our discussions.
We all take turns choosing books. That way everyone gets a chance to have the group read their particular preference in reading material. Of course, there are times when someone picks a stinker. But those discussions can still be quite entertaining in regard to where the author went wrong. One of our books was so bad that in good conscience we couldn’t even pass it on to anyone else; it had to go into the recycling bin.
Barnes & Noble in Gilroy does not offer any discounts to Book Clubs, although you can order online and use your Barnes & Noble annual membership for a discount. But BookSmart in Morgan Hill offers a 10 percent discount on all the books you purchase with no membership necessary if you let them know they are for a Book Club. The books also arrive sooner than many online vendors get them to us (within two to three days) and there are no shipping charges. If we want our books quickly, we go to BookSmart and keep our dollars local.
We also watch movies based on the books we have read, so we decided to alternate between nights where we choose to view movies and nights where we discuss books. We recently attended “The Butler” together, which was a great outing and led to a very stimulating discussion. In our group, we laugh a lot. Since we have expanded to include movies, we now call ourselves the Book and Movie Club, or the “BM Club,” for short.
Book clubs are about so much more than just reading and discussing a book. Holcomb always asks a question after each book that often leads to the most interesting revelations: “Which character did you like most and why?”
The story and theme ideas of the books often stimulate discussions about the society and times in which we live, and what that means for us in regard to our own personal identities and histories.
