In February, I met up with the new book club members and discussed "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. Thank goodness Laura downloaded some "book club questions" otherwise I think we all would have just said we enjoyed the book and went on to talk about our kids. We will have to try to do that for all the books. The book was amazing. It brought you back to another era and really made you think about daily life and the trials and tribulations a lot of people faced. I enjoyed that the book was told by Scout at an older age looking back on the events, it showed the difference between what she thought was going on and what really went on now that she can have some distance from it. I think the book club is great, the veggie nachos and margaritas were really swell too! I love hearing different interpretations of the same passages. It is so good to hear a different point of view. I think we have a good group of people too. We all seem to be busy girls with a lot going on who want to still take the time to read a good book and have some me time. I can't think of anything better.
We decided to read "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger for this month. What a wonderful book. When I read this before I automatically sided with Holden and took his problems as my own. This time I had thoughts that he was just a spoiled rich kid who needed to "man up" and get with the program. Things change, points of view change as you get older. Boo Hoo Ho Hum, getting older sucks in a lot ways... But in the end I was cheering for Holden again and was moved by his want to be the actual "catcher in the rye." Also, that the ideal thing that would make him happy and whole was actually a misinterpretation of a song he had heard. So is life. Everybody needs a somebody to pull them out of a hole. I'm glad Holden found his.
I'm about halfway through "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" by Thorton Wilder This is a completely different type of book. I'm still trying to figure it out. It is intriguing and confusing at the same time. I'll let you know more when I figure it out.
So on to book buying! So far I have found every book I have read at The Book Stop in Smyrna. My own local second-hand store that I love. (Including "To Kill a Mockingbird" I couldn't believe it. There it was just sitting on the shelf after my whole diatribe about its scarcity!) I have recently started volunteering for The Smyrna Public Library through The Friends of Smyrna Public Library. My job is to look through all the donated books that the librarians cannot use for the library shelves and organize them and price them for the semi-annual book sales The Friends have for the library. The revenue this brings in is staggering. So my first day I was in complete shock as to what was being donated to the library. Almost new hardcovers of "famous" fluff-read (I mean fiction) authors. These are the books that cost 25 bucks new. I hold on to books at that price point but I guess I get it the more I think about it. The people who get great enjoyment out of the John Grishams, Nora Roberts', and Clive Cusslars of the world seem to have this drive to get the newest one as soon as it hits the shelves and then devour it in a day in a half. I can honestly say this is not my type of reading. I really thought I would be sorting through the old and obscure that nobody was thinking about anymore. These still exist in the donated books but not to the extent I thought. As a volunteer, I get first dibs on things that interest me so we'll see what comes out of this. In the meantime, I love books and love to see what people bring in and I'm helping out the library, so bonus for me!
This weekend was the Cobb County Public Library system's huge book sale and I scored big. I found "Herzog" by Saul Bellow, "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison and "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" by John Le Carre from the 100 list all for 25 cents a piece. Can you believe it? I picked up some other stuff too. Books for Oliver (all 25 cents a piece), some titles that just caught my eye, and a load of those famous author's books like I stated above for my mom, dad, and mother-in-law. People love them....
I have book club on the 15 of March and I can't wait to see what we decide to read next!
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