More Party Girls!

Day 140 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project, and my book group met tonight, so you get to hear what more party girls are reading: The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. This is the book that so many people are reading that it stays in hardcover. (Or large print paperback, kindle, and audiobook. The trade paperback will be out in January, 2011.)

Yes, we had chocolate pie. Plus Cool Whip and berries. Green chips and salsa. Biscuits and home made strawberry jam. And Beer Nuts Party Mix ("a party in your mouth"), leftover from the Saturday night party.

What a beautiful evening on the patio. Breezy and warm, clear skies, puffy clouds, it gradually got dark around us as we talked about the book and the natural other things that arose from it. It was the perfect blend of book talk and related-to-the-book talk that was free to go anywhere. It felt like everybody got to say what she wanted to say about the book, and we got to hear about personal experiences or ethical or moral dilemmas similar to those faced by characters in the book. Interpretive discussion and a connected personally-resonant discussion.

I know that many, many book groups are mere excuses for social gatherings, and people sometimes 1) don't talk about the book and/or 2) don't even read the book. But we are a lucky bunch. Susan, our fearless leader, formed the group because 1) she wants to read fiction (or, OK, occasionally memoir!) and 2) her other book group was not actually reading the book.

Tonight we had a new member, Suzie, who had come to us as a haven because her previous book group was...well, it was Susan's previous book group! (I hope I am not exposing anybody! Uh...I think we are safe.) Anyway, we discussed the book, which, I hear, is remarkably rare in book groups these days!

Any comments about book groups welcome here.

The images today are collage bookmarks made by me from things found in books, glued to the backings for Swedish cooking utensils. On the left is a collage poem made from lines from other poems cut from pages of an anthology cut out from an old (but abundant, not rare) book, so the inside could be used to put something else (not a gun) in. On the left is an art collage, with ironic content, to be used as a large bookmark. Bookmarks are things found in books! So are newspaper clippings, brochures, playing cards, seed packets, greeting cards, CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) courtesy/complaint cards, etc.

I love bookmarks, I love crafty doo-dads, and I love collage poems.