First, the good news is that I was able to generate quite a lot of interest in a book club among the teachers at my school. They graciously allowed me to select our first book, and I chose Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows’s The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It’s a perfect book for book clubs, and I believe I had read as much somewhere, but I’m not sure where. I was taken by the title.
The book is populated with memorable characters who tell their story through letters. As this is one of only a handful of epistolary novels I’ve read, I’ll call it a unique storytelling device that works well to reveal the plot. Much better, in fact, than I think a straight narrative would have because it allows for the otherwise risky device of multiple narrators to work much better. The novel is the story of a writer named Juliet Ashton, who reminded me of Dorothy Parker. I’ll be curious to see if my book club members thought of her, too. By chance, Dawsey Adams, a pig farmer on the Channel Island of Guernsey comes upon one of her books in a used book store, and he enjoys it so much that he writes to her. Over time, Juliet develops friendships with Dawsey and his friends, who formed the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society during Germany’s occupation of the island during World War II.
Any book focused on a setting ought to leave the reading feeling a desire to visit, and that’s precisely how I felt. I have never thought even once in my life of going to Guernsey, but just like John Berendt’s characters in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil bring the city of Savannah to life and have caused a cottage industry around tourism related to the book, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn something similar happens to Guernsey; however, increased tourism will likely depend on how popular the book becomes. My favorite books — the ones I couldn’t put down even if they were not literature with a capial L — were all populated with memorable, realistic characters I wish I could know in real life, and now I have one more book to add to that list.
The Book Club Girl shares the top ten book club picks for spring and summer. I read about The Uncommon Reader at Book Group Buzz and thought it sounded interesting, and as a fan of Susan Vreeland’s Girl in Hyacinth Blue and Life Studies: Stories, I had heard of her most recent work Luncheon of the Boating Party, but I hadn’t read it. I was lucky to be able to use Life Studies in a senior short story seminar course that I teach. This year’s class didn’t like Vreeland as much as last year’s class, interestingly enough. She was an English teacher for 30 years in San Diego, and her web site has handy information for teachers.
Stefanie at So Many Books mentions another book that looks interesting: Novel Destinations by Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Rendon. This book is a reader’s guide to literary landmarks, from the courthouse that served as the inspiration for the Maycomb County Courthouse in To Kill a Mockingbird to the moors captured so eloquently by the Brontës.
I am over 200 pages into The Book of Air and Shadows, and I suppose it is too much to hope at this late stage that any of the characters will turn out to be likable after all. However, the storyline does move. I can’t quite say it matches the dearth of characterization exhibited by Dan Brown, but one of my prerequisites for truly enjoying a book is liking a character or at least something about a character. Any character.
If you are a teacher, especially a teacher of writing, and interested in joining a professional development book club, I think we have something going. We are going to read Write Beside Them by Penny Kittle. Lisa Huff, no relation, put together a wiki where we can share our discussion. Consider yourself invited if this book looks like something that interests you.
Book Club Girl has a post on the most popular books in book clubs in 2007. I haven’t read any of the books on the list, but several are on my “to read” list.
I have never truly been in a book club. Not because I don’t want to, but because the opportunity simply hasn’t presented itself. And I really want to be in a book club! I teach literature, and I love it, but sometimes I want to discuss books with grown ups. I love blogging about reading and books here, but the immediate interaction of a discussion is missing. I also enjoyed discussing professional development reading on a forum, but the conversation was sometimes stilted due to the course requirements. I would love to talk about books with a group of people who chose a book to read for pleasure instead of a course requirement.
Any suggestions on getting started?
