I can be a fairly voracious
reader, mostly of crap books. In efforts to broaden my reading horizons (ie;
read something other than smut) I have been yearning to start a book club for a
least a year or two. However, anyone who knows me understands that I am more of
an “idea person”, and not so much a “follow through” kind of lady. This drives my
husband INSANE, as he refuses to start a project with me unless he gets a signed
promise of completion in advance. It really is that bad. I lose focus, I lose
energy and I usually just want a nap.
BUT last month, I STARTED
A BOOK CLUB! For real. We have a name (Boozy Bookworms), members, a book and
even deadlines! You gotta love Facebook. There is a button that says “Start a
Group”. It could literally not get any easier. Click to add some friends, find
an appropriately irreverent yet classy picture, welcome everyone, and pick a
group name. Voila! Book Club started. Now, for the arduous task of picking a
likeable, yet thought provoking book that not everyone has read, but that has come
highly recommended…
WILD, by Cheryl Strayed.
These are the actual Facebook
reviews for WILD from real-life friends:
“Wild was really good. A little different because
it wasn't fiction.”
“I read Wild and it was really good. Definitely a
must read!”I am sure there were a couple more reviews, but I can’t seem to find them. Anyways, the point: The response was overwhelmingly in favor for WILD. Hell, even Oprah recommend this book.
OK! Let’s get our read on!
Yikes. A few days in and a couple BB’s have
already given up, citing Cheryl as “whiney and annoying”. A couple more ladies
are still reading but not entirely enjoying our first selection. At this point I
have yet to read it, but to my credit, it had been downloaded onto my Nook. Don’t
worry; I am not bailing on my own group. I will read the damn book, it was sort
of my suggestion.
2 days until book club, I am about a quarter of
the way through and decide its go time:
Man, this book is seriously all about hiking. I don’t
care about hiking. If I had a mental break down, heroin and hiking would not be
my solution. I don’t think I can relate at all. Wait, she legally changed her
last name to Strayed? I wonder what I would change my last name to. We had
considered Awesome. (Have you met the Awesomes? I still think that would have
been cool) She brought a dozen condoms with her on the trail…that’s a lot of
(literally) dirty sex. Oh, shit, she got rid of the condoms; they were
unnecessary and weighing down her backpack. I guess there will be no love
story. More hiking. Damn, if my feet hurt that bad, I think I would quit. I don’t
want to lose 6 toenails. Another night with no dinner? I guess dried tuna
flakes would lose their appeal pretty quickly, but I am pretty confident that I
could eat ramen for a while. I would have to carry Tabasco with me in my pack.
That could be heavy, I would have to omit something else…maybe a couple books?
But then she burned the parts she had read and made a little fire every night.
I wish they had had Nooks in the early nineties; she would have saved some
serious weight. But, then she would have had to carry solar chargers and such.
Oh, well, then she could have tweeted about it or Instagramed the sunsets. I
wonder if there is cell reception out there? I wonder if I could have hiked
1100 miles without a cell phone? Kind of makes hikers now sound like wimps with
their GPS and fancy devices. Can anyone even follow a guidebook map anymore? I don’t
think I could. That damn bear would have eaten me, only if I didn’t die of
fright first when hundreds of black frogs attacked me while I was sleeping by the
pond. That might have done me in. Fucking frogs. She sure hitchhikes a lot.
When do we get to the part where someone kidnaps her? Or assaults her? I don’t wish
her harm, but she is alone in the middle of nowhere…anything can happen. She doesn’t
have a gun. I am not really pro-gun, but by myself in the wilderness? I think I
would reconsider my stance on firearms. Is she going to sleep with Doug? A
handsome young lad hiking along the PCT? Sounds like a love affair under the
stars…she saved one condom. Is it for him? No? Never? Oh, ok. I really thought
that was going to happen. More hiking. More hiking. Finally has sex with some dude
that she just met at a bar…after he takes her back to his tent on an organic
farm that he helps at in exchange for a free place to live. Makes sense. At
least he doesn’t do heroin. More hiking. Reaches destination and sums up the
rest of her life in 3 sentences. Seriously?? That’s it? I get 200 pages of
hiking information, and just three sentences about what happens after her 4
month spirit quest in the middle of nowhere? Alright. The end.
A friend offered to host our first Boozy Bookworms
discussion group and cocktail gathering. Damn, this woman out did herself. We
had wine glass shaped cookies, a charcuterie spread, and even a gorgeous aqua-blue
vodka cocktail, reminiscent of the Crater Lake in the book with the crystal
clear blue water. Her husband had even set out little bottles of tequila and
Jack just in case we were into shots that evening. Maybe next time! That’s an
interesting idea; a book club drinking game…then it would need to become a book
club and sleep over.
Until next month, happy reading!
xoxo
 |
| CHEERS! |
No comments:
Post a Comment