Book Club America

I recently joined a book study at my church. At least, I'm trying it again, and its working out much better than the last one. All around my age (20-somethings) some married, some not, but I really like everyone in the group. Its pretty thought provoking. I really like the discussions we've had. The question being, however, would have I enjoyed the discussion nearly as much had they been younger or older? I'm guessing, knowing myself, that I probably could enjoy the discussion just as much, but I'm not as comfortable with different groups, nor will I allow myself to become that comfortable. Or perhaps, its just something that always happens. Who knows?

Anyway, the book that we're reading is called "How to Ruin Your Life by 40" by Steve Farrar. Nice title, huh? Its a really thin book and we've only discussed Chapters 1 and 2. Sunday we're going to go over Chapter 3. Basically the author was expanding on a speech he gave to a Christian University graduating class. The first chapter is titled "Cause and Effect" - things you do in this world have consequences... Pretty tough and complex stuff, huh? Anyway, my synopsis for everything we've discussed so far: when you're young everything is about you; as you get older you realize your world is bigger than just you and you have to "work hard" every single day to make sure you don't "ruin" your life. All of us have had some disagreements with the book so far, the biggest ones seem to be: 1) what exactly is meant by "ruining" your life? 2) after 40 you can still change your life and it doesn't have to be considered "ruined", and 3) almost all of his metaphors don't seem fitting. And yes, I know all metaphors have limitations... but his still don't fit what he's trying to explain. Read the book and then we'll talk.

And then my mom is starting her own book club. Which I'm kinda excited about, because I think she would really like it. While she's never said much about it, sometimes I wonder if she's kinda lonely. My dad always goes and fishes and hunts and golfs with other guys, but she doesn't go out much. She started weight-watchers with some other older ladies and seems to really enjoy going out to lunch with them afterwards and the book club they're starting are all women her age. However, they're starting with Pride and Prejudice... Apparently one of the ladies is a huge Jane Austen fan. And apparently there's a movie called "The Jane Austen Book Club". It was made a while ago, but not too long ago, I would guess early-mid 90's. I thought it would be weird and it was, and I was worried during certain parts and honestly wondered if the movie would be a bomb, but the end did redeem itself. All of the couples got back together, except the lesbian girl doesn't have a date to the party at the end of the movie. Which is perfectly fine with me.

Anyway, its a good book club, and I think I might meet some new friends there, so I'm pretty stoked. But we'll see how it works. Ciao!