Book Clubs

I would love to join a book club.  I've had it in mind for years, but just never did anything about it.  I've recently started reading more on my own, something I've always loved to do, but I think that having a group of people, especially women, with whom I could discuss my thinking about the books would be very rewarding.  So we at ShalomBoston.com are pondering whether we should start up a book club.

Are you interested?  Sometimes, for those of us who love to read, the structure of a book club helps us keep up this enjoyable activity.  Traditional book clubs provide a social network and personal interaction, as well as literary discussion, but an online book club might allow us to participate and get some of the benefits without having to commit to a specific time period or arrange for child care.

If you are interested in joining a book club, would you prefer an online group or a traditional group that meets say, once a month?  What types of books interest you?  Novels or non-fiction, Jewish or secular?  Share your thoughts in this discussion and ShalomBoston.com may facilitate one or more book groups.

Here are some of the books I've read recently:

The Omnivore's Dilemma (Pollan)

The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Barbery)

The White Tiger (Adiga)

Eat, Pray, Love (Gilbert)

Molokai (Brennert)

Rough Weather (Parker)

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (McCall Smith)

I'm now in the middle of reading:

A Tale of Love and Darkness (Oz)

Here are some books that I'm hoping to read soon:

The Yiddish Policemen's Union (Chabon)

The Jewish Encounters series (Nextbook/Schocken), especially:

  The Life of David (Pinsky), Marc Chagall (Wilson), The Wicked Son (Mamet)

A Time to Every Purpose: letters to a young Jew (Sarna)

The rest of the Ladies Detective Agency series (McCall Smith)

I'd love to hear from you.

Jamie Stolper

ShalomBoston.com Co-Founder and President