BL&T Book of the Month Club - The Bethel Citizen

senewsberita.blogspot.com

Blame it on Corona! Over the past 22 years, I’ve facilitated the Books Lines & Thinkers Book Discussions, one each month, June through October, then January through March. But this time around the calendar, it isn’t happening. Until further notice, the discussions are on hiatus.

When we had our meetings, the ones during the summer months were the most well-attended, for the simple reason that many folks from away were away no longer, and they enthusiastically joined the solid, year-round core group of book lovers. Often, there were 25 to 30 participants, and the discussions were almost always lively and interesting.

Aside from the varied perspectives offered by individual readers, which gave us all much rich food for thought, my favorite parts of the book discussion experiences were the friendships that grew out of those gatherings, friendships of my own and friendships between others in the group. That is what I’m missing most during this forced hiatus. For the time being, we can’t meet the way we did before, but that doesn’t
have to mean that we can’t still have shared reading experiences.

Although the book discussions were always open to all who wished to participate, there were always some folks who referred to it as “the book club,” which it never was. Now, though, I guess it will be, so that is what I’m calling this new approach for us — a book club — specifically, the BL&T Book of the Month Club.

Here’s how it will work (I hope): Like the BL&T Book Discussions, the BL&T Book of the Month Club will be open to all who wish to participate. Once each month, for at least eight months of the year, I will announce a book selection. I will have chosen that book through a process of reading reviews and talking with people who visit BL&T about books they’ve read or books about which they’ve heard good things. I will also chat books with people I encounter in places outside the shop. In other words, the monthly selections will, more often than not, be the result of my ceaselessly picking people’s brains about what they’ve been reading — which is exactly what I’ve been doing for years and years, much longer than the 24 years I’ve been a bookseller. I love to read, and I love to chat with others about what I’m reading, and I love to listen to what they have to say about what they are reading.

That is exactly how I’ve come to select the first two books with which I’m beginning the BL& T Book of the Month Club. And, yes, of course (although it’s not required), I’m hoping you will buy these selections at my shop, to help me stay in this business of serving you, which is harder than ever during this time of Corona.

If you do decide to join this “club,” I would ask that, after you read the selection for the month, you send me an email or a Facebook message or a note with your own brief critique of the book, overall, and/or an observation or comment or question about something in the book that caught your attention. I will never delete or throw away your responses. None of us really knows for certain at this time if a cure or a vaccine will be successfully developed, but if that happens in the not-too-distant future, then book discussion meetings will probably resume. If they do, I have no doubt that at least some of the books we will have read in the club will be worth revisiting in face-to-face, mask-free meetings, and the responses you will have contributed will add much to those happy reunions.

I’ve rattled on enough now. Here is the July selection: Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. This is a work of nonfiction that was recommended to me by a friend who teaches history in a public high school in the Washington, D.C. area. I’m reading it right now, and cannot briefly describe it better than freelance writer Bruce Handy did in a piece for the New York Times Book Review, in which he describes it as a “ramble — literally — through the landscape of American presidential assassinations.” I know this sounds ghoulish but, trust me, it’s a “vacation” worth taking. Vowell’s sense of humor and subject-matter knowledge shine. Give it a try, and let me know what you think.

Now, just to get a jump on things, in case you fly through Assassination Vacation and suddenly find yourself at loose ends over what to read next, here is the August selection: Warlight by Michael Ondaatje. This, too, is a title suggested to me by a friend. She made a very good case last summer as to why I should add it to the shortlist of books I was considering for the ’20-’21 book discussion meetings. Her opinion on books to read is one I’ve learned to trust wholeheartedly.

You probably know Michael Ondaatje as the author of The English Patient. Not only is that a terrific novel, but it was also made into a very good movie. This more recent novel, Warlight, published in 2018, is both a spy thriller and a coming-of-age story. You can’t go wrong with that set-up when looking for a promising summer read.

These first two selections will carry us to September, whereupon I’ll announce the first book for the fall season. Now, let’s get this new book club started.

For more information, please call Books, Lines & Thinkers at (207)864-4355 or email: [email protected]

Invalid username/password.

Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

« Previous

RLHT To Host Dark Sky Talks

2020 Schedule of Arts Events