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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Book Club Envy

I don't belong to a book club....but it seems like everyone else does.

I love asking my mom what her book club is reading, or my sister what her club is reading, but though I live vicariously through their book clubs, I just can't seem to join one.

Am I just too oppositional?

I mean, the minute something seems like a reading assignment, I go completely Moby Dick. (That is to say, my brain cannot focus because this is now something I HAVE to read, like in Junior English, not something I WANT to read, even if I wanted to read it at one time or another.)

And, there is also the fact that if there is a bunch of hype about a book, it is just really hard for me to pick it up. Hence I have been late on the bandwagon for many amazing books....Graveyard Book, Book Thief, Hunger Games trilogy...hello! I struggled with finally deciding to read these books because "everyone else has read them" and that made me feel like I HAD to....and I hate feeling like I HAVE to.

The flip side is that I love talking about books that I love....or struggled with. ...or books that I can't stop thinking about. A book club would be perfect for me.

Probably.

And yet I can't.

My solution: Force (nicely, of course) my daughter(s) to read books that I have read and want to talk about. (Of course, they might go all Moby Dick on me from time to time, but at least I get to read what I want to when I want to....and then talk about it later!)

hrh

P.s. I finished Surfiesta!! Before the I-must-eat-it deadline! How ironic. I post about how I hate to be forced to READ something, but can only finish a deadline if I force myself to WRITE the final bits.

What odd, odd creatures we writers are.

14 comments:

Stina said...

I'm not in a bookclub, either, and don't plan to be. I know what you mean about hype. It took me forever to read The Hunger Games because of that. I'm now waiting for my copy of Mockingjay to arrive in the mail. ;)

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

Congrats on Surfiesta! I knew you would. Paper does not a good meal make. And, besides, you're creative and productive, and I never doubted the words would come.
I've never belonged to a book club, either. I'm not much of a joiner. I like to do things propelled by my desire and time. Your point is interesting, though. I hadn't thought of it like being forced to read, but the notion of a group choosing a book and expecting me to read is a little like that. This is off-topic a bit, but even library books can do that to me. Oh, I must read this in two weeks, and it becomes a chore.

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you finished Surfiesta in time. Who wants to eat paper. YUCK!

I'm not in a book club. Don't have the time! I enjoy reading. My TBR book list, books for reviews, and my overloaded bookshelves are all keeping me quite busy.

Janet Johnson said...

I am SO like you! I shouldn't go all Moby Dick (love that phrase, by the way) . . . I'm reading all the time anyway, but there it is. Can't join a book club. I have tried.

Susan R. Mills said...

I don't belong to a book club either. I used to, and I enjoyed it, but some of the books picked weren't up my alley.

Jennifer Shirk said...

I'm the same way! A lot of my friends are in book clubs and it sounds great, but when I hear about some of the books they're reading, I make a face. LOL

Myrna Foster said...

Congrats on getting that poem finished!

I've never belonged to a book club. I love recommendations, but I hate feeling forced to read something. I usually pick up whatever suits my fancy at the moment.

Roxy said...

I feel the same way about books people insist you read. I am negative about them from the get-go. Now I have the proper term for this condition: going Moby Dick. I like it!

Jessie Oliveros said...

I'm the same way if I have to read something! I hope I don't get that way if I have to write something. Actually, first I'd like to get to that point of HAVING to write something. Congrats on finishing your poems, which would have not tasted nice.

storyqueen said...

Stina-It was so worth the wait! I ended up loving Hunger Games, but I did not read it until this Summer. (Bad Shelley!) The great thing was that I could read them bam! Bam! Bam!

Tricia-Sooo glad I didn't have to eat it! (And yes, I owe you yet again..I rewrote a few of the offending verses as haiku....saved my butt, it did.)

Susanne- True. Paper would be gross...even in an enchilada (which was what I was secretly planning if I had to actually eat it.)

Janet-The funny thing was, I REALLY wanted to love Moby. I mean, he was a WHALE...and, well, he was a WHALE! But I hated that book. Mostly because of all of the stuff I was supposed to GET from the experience but never did.

Susan-I knew wasn't the only one. (Okay, so I didn't know for sure..but I really hoped!)

Jennifer-(Shhhhhh, I am saying this very quietly....sometimes when my mom tells me what book her group is reading, I laugh VERY quietly to myself because I DON'T have to read it.)

Myrna-I knew I wasn't alone!!

Roxy-You don't know how good it makes me feel to know that there are other rebels out there.

Jessie-the poem deadline was self imposed....like making a dare with yourself. Oh no, the sane wouldn't do such a thing. But I like to live on the wild side sometimes....

Jackee said...

Congrats on finishing Surfiesta! Yay!!!

My book group eventually fizzled out for the same reasons--I wanted to read what I felt like reading on a whim and not what I felt I *had* to read by a deadline.

That's a great idea about forcing my daughter to read what I want to talk about. Thanks! I'll see if that will work for me. :o)

Cinette said...

Would you believe I haven't read The Hunger Games, The Twilight series, or even Harry Potter? I also hate being told I have to read something or other. Yet, I haven't any problem telling others what they should read...

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

I'm not in a book club either, but I have a 14 year old, so it's like being in a book club....I get a lot of pressure to read the books she wants me to read. I have more books than I think I'll ever be able to read...yet I keep buying more....

I struggled through the first 40 pages of the Book Thief and finally started enjoying it...had to shelf it for a while while I'm working on another project...

Laura Pauling said...

I'm not in a book club either! Funny, I'll read books just to see what the buzz is all about. I didn't finish reading The graveyard book - even though I loved the writing. And I didn't read much of the Book Thief because I couldn't get into the narration of death. In all fairness, I probably didn't give it enough pages.