Book Clubbing

Like so many people in this day and age, I have joined a book club. I used to laugh at the directed reading book club questions in the back of novels, thinking them suited only to 8th grade English classes and not the reading public demanding only entertainment from its fiction. However, I was wrong. People want to talk about books. Indeed, if I didn't want to talk about books, why do I have this blog?

And, you don't have to use the questions in the back of the book. In fact, most of my favourite books don't have reading questions in the back at all. And those that do, well, I won't hold it against them.

I joined the book club to expand my reading horizon. I was tending to read the same books over and over again: historical fiction, mystery, historical mystery, non-fiction historical and wanted to try something new. However, I was a little cautious. I was excited about sharing my book with the world, but hesitant about trying new books. What if I didn't like them? But reading anything is never a waste of time.

Our book club is limited in nature: 4 of us, 4 months, 4 books. We've already discussed the book for May and are getting ready to move on to June. My month is July. I'm looking forward to discussing my pick!

We had two picks for May: Reading Lolita in Tehran and Small Island. Neither were books I would pick off the shelf to read at the library, nevermind to own at the bookstore. Although neither book was my favourite, they were interesting to read and the first book (all we've had time to discuss so far!) promoted an interesting discussion about the role of women and religion in the world.

Reading Lolita in Tehran is about one Iranian woman's struggle during the Islamic Revolution. The author, Azar Nafisi, lived and taught literature at University in Iran before leaving her country to move to the United States. She frames her book in four sections, each structured around a different author or novel: Lolita, Henry James, The Great Gatsby, and Jane Austen. I have never read Lolita in Tehran or elsewhere, nor The Great Gatsby, nor Henry James. However, a little Wikipedia research helped.

For a book club, this was a good choice in that the book presented a wide forum of other literature to discuss in addition to the book itself - that is, if one has read the other books. I also found that the front jacket blurb about the book was misleading. The book discusses the author's entire teaching life in Iran: including the time she resigned from the university and started her own book club/literature class with some of her female students at her home. This portion of the author's life does not encompass the whole book. However, to read the blurb, it would seem like the entire book revolves around the author and her at-home literature class. It does not; it is one factor in the author's interesting life. I felt like the book had been mislabelled and wondered why her story seemed to be straying "off track" as it discussed other aspects of the author's life instead of focusing on her private reading class. I also would have liked to learn more about the women in her class.

The book is an interesting read. However, I would recommend that you brush up on your Henry James, Lolita, Great Gatsby and Jane Austen before reading! It is not a comfortable read, but the struggles faced by the women in Iran are gripping. Not my usual choice of book, but I'm glad I read it.

My thoughts on Small Island will be in my next post. And what is our pick for June? The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson. I'm currently 396th in line on hold for the book at the library! Stay tuned for a post discussing this book after I've read it and discussed it with the club. And my pick in July? You'll have to wait and see.