Manchester City Library

Fall is a time of quiet pleasures. A time of warm days and cool nights, glorious foliage and, my personal favorite, apple crisp. And it’s the time of year when book clubs get together again after the summer. This is how my season started: It’s Tuesday morning, we’ve read our first book,  every-one’s talking at once, and we can’t wait to talk about which characters we liked and which ones we didn’t.

Then there’s the joy of seeing all those familiar faces. “OK, so did we like the book? I agree it may not have been his best. But there is a lot to talk about, don’t you think?” “I don’t think that girl should have gotten away with murder.” “If I’d been in his shoes, I would have helped her.” You can always count on a diversity of opinions.

Libraries do it -this library has three at last count. Oprah does it. And according to our interlibrary loan department, the number of private book clubs is growing every year. If you love to read, a book club is a great way to share ideas, and book clubs are just a lot of fun.

Last month we had the luxury of a phone interview with the author, Chris Bohjalian. At first, everyone was uncharacteristically silent. That didn’t last long. It was fun to find out how much of the story was autobiographical and the amount of research that went into the book. Since one of the principal characters was a teenage girl, the author explained that his teenage daughter had read part of the manuscript to see if his portrayal was accurate. She thought it was.

It all took place in an hour and fifteen minutes, and everyone had something interesting to say. If this sounds like your book club, welcome back.

Lilly the Librarian