BACK TOGETHER & IT FEELS SO GOOD

July 2021 – The NCL Bookends Recovene In-Person Meetings After 11 Months of Shutdown

I’m not sure which lasted longer: the hugs for each arrival, the clouds for a beach day, or the book discussion. After eleven months apart, most of the members of my book club traveled down for a Cape Cod picnic and “beach” day for an in-person meeting. Over cups of clam chowder – the REAL clam chowder, New England style – lobster and chicken salad rolls, watermelon and corn/bean salads and our signature summer beverage of homemade sangria, we laughed, caught up and discussed the dual narrative/timeline of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor. Overall consensus was a solid 4.5 star read with most of us gravitating toward the 1838 “Grace” narrative and her struggle to grab at a chance of love when weighed against a sense of family responsibilities and personal insecurities. We also enjoyed learning about the 1938 Hurricane which hit nearby Rhode Island in force. Although some of the warnings today turn out to be “crying wolf”, it’s still better to be safe than sorry.

Good Food. Good Book. Wonderful Gathering.

By the end of the day, after we polished off a few cookies and washed them down with sips of homemade limoncello (Thanks, MaryBeth!), we agreed to get back on track with in-person meetings starting up again in September. We can only hope the world doesn’t take a downward spin into uncertainty again to thwart our plans. Zoom meetings did not work very well for us.

Are you in a book club? I hope it means as much to you as mine does to me. The core members of our group have been together for over 23 years, through ups and downs and all-arounds.

If you’re looking for more information on book clubs, from titles to consider to their history, I’ve put together several points of reference:

  • WHY JOIN A BOOK CLUB?
  • TOP TITLES TO CONSIDER
  • TIPS & IDEAS FOR SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS
  • Themed Meetings
  • Author Talks & Discussion Guides
  • Sharing and Caring
  • THE HISTORY OF BOOK CLUBS

Visit my Book Club Tips & Ideas page to learn more about these topics.

HAPPY READING and BEST WISHES to you for your book club success from the NCL Bookends.

1 Comment

  1. E. Wickham on April 17, 2022 at 4:46 pm

    That sounds like a wonderful day! It might motivate me to join a book club. We recently moved to a new state and our neighborhood has a book club that will restart in the fall. That would be a way for me to meet people, too. Thanks for the link!

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