Since we retired and moved to Omaha, both Bonnie and I have become somewhat involved with book clubs. I, as regular readers of these posts know, joined the Omaha Sherlockian Society (actually at Bonnie’s suggestion) shortly after we moved here, when she pointed out a reference to a meeting in the newspaper, and I have commented on my membership in that organization and some of its activities several times in these posts.
Bonnie didn’t get involved with book clubs quite as quickly as I (the Librarian’s son) did, but it WAS only about 10 months after “the move.” Reading has, historically, not been a major interest of hers (unlike me). She’s always been a “doer” more than a reader. (I figured I had enough “doing” with my job as teacher, designer, technical director, etc., so reading was my “relaxation.” She, on the other hand, has always been a sewer/crafter/gardener. She even had a small, part-time business as a member of a local craft co-op when we lived in North Carolina. Among other things, she invented what she called “crayon aprons” for young kids, and decorated hundreds of marble tiles, to be used as coasters, which she sold at Dogwood Crafters in Dillsboro. She’s done embroidery on all sorts of things and made dresses for both Kate’s AND Maggi’s weddings. As a gardener, she’s currently working on redesigning her third yard, (as she has done with every one we have actually owned). All of that, while mothering our girls, being involved with Girl Scouts, doing the books and newsletter for Dogwood Crafters, being in Newcomers in Sylva/Cullowhee, AND (after the girls moved out) working at WCU in various positions, ending at The Honors College.
Since we moved here, she’s joined the New Neighbors League Board, as their Newsletter Editor, and has been active in several of their interest groups (including starting one of her own)! AND she does a LOT of taking care of me, keeping our house functioning, etc. (Just describing all that she does makes me tired.)
Now, NNL has several monthly book clubs, so she “checked them out” to see what they were like, and ended up joining two of them! Then, she decided that she wanted to attend a “Visualizing Literature” session at the Joslyn Art Museum (a surprisingly good art museum for a city the size of Omaha) which was founded by a VERY wealthy, local couple back in 1931, and is described as having “…a comprehensive permanent collection, comprising over 12,000 objects, including nineteenth and twentieth-century collections of American and European art, Western American Art, Chinese and Japanese art, as well as contemporary art." These quarterly sessions focus on having folks read a suggested book and then meeting to discuss that book and how it relates to works of art currently on display in the museum, which is a bit like a “book club.” Bonnie has enjoyed those sessions as well as the more standard, monthly, NNL book clubs which focus just on discussing selected novels, etc.
She tries (with considerable diligence, I should add) to obtain copies of most of the books for these meetings from the local library, because we own FAR TOO MANY BOOKS, the VAST majority of which are MINE (sigh). But, I just can’t figure out how, or what, to “weed.” As a result, I have MANY TOO MANY old texts, scripts, anthologies, etc., mostly from my teaching days (which I do, on occasion, actually still consult), as well as my “reading for pleasure” books which I can’t decide what, or how, to “thin out.” I mean, after all, just since Christmas, I have reread (For the umpteenth time!) both The Hobbit AND The Lord of the Rings because I finished whatever I had been reading and decided that it had been a while since I read about Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf, and the guys. I confess that I enjoyed them yet again, and, yes, I have the movies, but they are NOT the same (and I think the original books are, in fact, better than the movies), and I do confess to being prejudiced.
I’m rather a bit off-track here, but I figured that I probably should explain that I’m not really afraid of going into a bookstore (or buying a book from Amazon), but I’m too much like Elly in this For Better or for Worse cartoon when I actually go into a bookstore. I suspect that the cartoon (below) really says it all.
Bonnie didn’t get involved with book clubs quite as quickly as I (the Librarian’s son) did, but it WAS only about 10 months after “the move.” Reading has, historically, not been a major interest of hers (unlike me). She’s always been a “doer” more than a reader. (I figured I had enough “doing” with my job as teacher, designer, technical director, etc., so reading was my “relaxation.” She, on the other hand, has always been a sewer/crafter/gardener. She even had a small, part-time business as a member of a local craft co-op when we lived in North Carolina. Among other things, she invented what she called “crayon aprons” for young kids, and decorated hundreds of marble tiles, to be used as coasters, which she sold at Dogwood Crafters in Dillsboro. She’s done embroidery on all sorts of things and made dresses for both Kate’s AND Maggi’s weddings. As a gardener, she’s currently working on redesigning her third yard, (as she has done with every one we have actually owned). All of that, while mothering our girls, being involved with Girl Scouts, doing the books and newsletter for Dogwood Crafters, being in Newcomers in Sylva/Cullowhee, AND (after the girls moved out) working at WCU in various positions, ending at The Honors College.
Since we moved here, she’s joined the New Neighbors League Board, as their Newsletter Editor, and has been active in several of their interest groups (including starting one of her own)! AND she does a LOT of taking care of me, keeping our house functioning, etc. (Just describing all that she does makes me tired.)
Now, NNL has several monthly book clubs, so she “checked them out” to see what they were like, and ended up joining two of them! Then, she decided that she wanted to attend a “Visualizing Literature” session at the Joslyn Art Museum (a surprisingly good art museum for a city the size of Omaha) which was founded by a VERY wealthy, local couple back in 1931, and is described as having “…a comprehensive permanent collection, comprising over 12,000 objects, including nineteenth and twentieth-century collections of American and European art, Western American Art, Chinese and Japanese art, as well as contemporary art." These quarterly sessions focus on having folks read a suggested book and then meeting to discuss that book and how it relates to works of art currently on display in the museum, which is a bit like a “book club.” Bonnie has enjoyed those sessions as well as the more standard, monthly, NNL book clubs which focus just on discussing selected novels, etc.
She tries (with considerable diligence, I should add) to obtain copies of most of the books for these meetings from the local library, because we own FAR TOO MANY BOOKS, the VAST majority of which are MINE (sigh). But, I just can’t figure out how, or what, to “weed.” As a result, I have MANY TOO MANY old texts, scripts, anthologies, etc., mostly from my teaching days (which I do, on occasion, actually still consult), as well as my “reading for pleasure” books which I can’t decide what, or how, to “thin out.” I mean, after all, just since Christmas, I have reread (For the umpteenth time!) both The Hobbit AND The Lord of the Rings because I finished whatever I had been reading and decided that it had been a while since I read about Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf, and the guys. I confess that I enjoyed them yet again, and, yes, I have the movies, but they are NOT the same (and I think the original books are, in fact, better than the movies), and I do confess to being prejudiced.
I’m rather a bit off-track here, but I figured that I probably should explain that I’m not really afraid of going into a bookstore (or buying a book from Amazon), but I’m too much like Elly in this For Better or for Worse cartoon when I actually go into a bookstore. I suspect that the cartoon (below) really says it all.
I’d like to at least think that I have more resistance with online purchases, but I still have to be careful even there and, if I DO have any more resistance, it’s probably just because there just isn’t the immediate gratification of being able to go home and start a new book immediately. After all, one does have to wait for a delivery from Amazon, or whomever, and that’s not quite the same thing. That might help explain why I’m in a Sherlock Holmes club. I already have the complete “canon” (and far too many related works) so my resistance is at least a bit higher with that material.
Anyway, book clubs do tend to fascinate me, though I confess that a great many of the books Bonnie has read for hers don’t seem to be of much interest to me. And, NO, it’s not because they tend to be about women. I have enjoyed a LOT of books with central characters who are female. A good many of them have interesting storylines and I find them quite enjoyable. When I ran across this Hagar the Horrible cartoon, I confess that I wondered if I had discovered the secret to the creation of at least some of these book clubs, but I’m in NO position to cast any stones.
Anyway, book clubs do tend to fascinate me, though I confess that a great many of the books Bonnie has read for hers don’t seem to be of much interest to me. And, NO, it’s not because they tend to be about women. I have enjoyed a LOT of books with central characters who are female. A good many of them have interesting storylines and I find them quite enjoyable. When I ran across this Hagar the Horrible cartoon, I confess that I wondered if I had discovered the secret to the creation of at least some of these book clubs, but I’m in NO position to cast any stones.
I suppose that the old saying about “different strokes for different folks” fits in here someplace.
Of course, it’s possible that there MIGHT be OTHER reasons to gather together “to discuss a book.” Now, one of Bonnie’s clubs meets in a public library (as does my Sherlock group), another meets at the art museum, and the last meets at a local “breakfast” restaurant during the mid-morning lull, so I think I’m safe in suggesting that at least some of those reasons probably don’t apply to her clubs (nor to mine). But, when I saw this picture online somewhere, it did suggest a possible explanation for some such groups. Such an excuse would NEVER apply to OUR groups, of course, but it does make one suspect that the possibility might exist that some “book clubs” could have motives other than just the intellectual stimulation of a discussion of a work of literature. Here’s the picture I saw:
Of course, it’s possible that there MIGHT be OTHER reasons to gather together “to discuss a book.” Now, one of Bonnie’s clubs meets in a public library (as does my Sherlock group), another meets at the art museum, and the last meets at a local “breakfast” restaurant during the mid-morning lull, so I think I’m safe in suggesting that at least some of those reasons probably don’t apply to her clubs (nor to mine). But, when I saw this picture online somewhere, it did suggest a possible explanation for some such groups. Such an excuse would NEVER apply to OUR groups, of course, but it does make one suspect that the possibility might exist that some “book clubs” could have motives other than just the intellectual stimulation of a discussion of a work of literature. Here’s the picture I saw:
Now, one can draw his/her own conclusions. I’m just sayin’ that if you encounter a glass with something like that printed on it, it’s just POSSIBLE that there is SOME level of “alternative reasons” involved, at least in SOME cases! (Tumblers ARE listed as a shape of stemless wine glass, after all.)
I suppose that I should admit that I COULD be viewed as being a bit prejudicial regarding the females of the species in this post, and that’s never wise, nor intended. I do suspect, however, I MIGHT be correct in my suspicion that society tends (quite incorrectly, I believe) to think of “book clubs” as being more of a female thing, like model train clubs and hunting/fishing trips tend to be more commonly thought of as being masculine. I DO have serious reservations as to the accuracy of those perceptions, however, as this Wizard of Id cartoon suggests.
I suppose that I should admit that I COULD be viewed as being a bit prejudicial regarding the females of the species in this post, and that’s never wise, nor intended. I do suspect, however, I MIGHT be correct in my suspicion that society tends (quite incorrectly, I believe) to think of “book clubs” as being more of a female thing, like model train clubs and hunting/fishing trips tend to be more commonly thought of as being masculine. I DO have serious reservations as to the accuracy of those perceptions, however, as this Wizard of Id cartoon suggests.
I DO think it’s quite possible that there are, in fact, many “masculine-oriented” book clubs which may, or may not, be just as serious about dealing with “literature” than any which are dominantly female, and I am sure there are many for both, such as the O.S.S. which has quite a few members of both sexes.
I would even go so far as to suggest that book clubs COULD spread beyond just being for humans, as this Bliss cartoon suggests in reference to a canine book club.
I would even go so far as to suggest that book clubs COULD spread beyond just being for humans, as this Bliss cartoon suggests in reference to a canine book club.
But I MAY have beaten this subject to as close to death as one can, or, at least, SHOULD.
Many of us like to read, although, these days, many of us spend far too much time reading our phones and not enough time reading books, said the Librarian’s son. Much stuff written for quick and easy consumption on our small screens isn’t particularly well-written and seems even less likely to have been well-thought-out, or examined for any relation to reality (FACTS). I do NOT want to turn this into a political discussion, but it’s my opinion that the amount of actual thought which seems to be reflected in much of our political news, and published opinion and commentary is, at best, minuscule, especially when it is intended for consumption online. Far too many people simply “pop off” about topics which, if one takes the trouble to actually look into the facts, it becomes evident all too quickly that the writer has little, if any, actual knowledge or experience related to what they are discussing. And I include many so-called “experts,” especially on “social media.”
I remember advising my students, when they were working on research papers, to be especially careful to seek multiple sources, especially when dealing with online information, as there is reason to be somewhat suspicious of info about the space program [for example] from someone with an address like “[email protected].” It seems much more likely that one might get actual, verifiable, authoritative facts if their address is something like: “[email protected].”
I think it’s quite sad that far too many people are, apparently, convinced that simply repeating something over and over (generally loudly) should be enough to convince any one of anything. I’m even more appalled that that technique actually seems to work a fair amount of the time. I think we’d be considerably more likely to have a better, more productive society, if we’d all just stop shouting and, at least occasionally, take the time to actually examine the ideas of some of the folks who have studied something and gone to the trouble of writing about it in a well-crafted book, novel, or paper. NOTE: I’m NOT suggesting that one MUST (or even SHOULD) accept even that sort of information without examination. Several sources are ALWAYS MUCH better than just one! Then the ideas presented should be compared and examined with some actual thinking! Obviously, this would seem likely to produce better results than just blindly repeating what “somebody said on the internet” as some of our “leaders” seem to be fond of suggesting should be considered adequate. (For example, I may have opinions about many things, but I acknowledge that do NOT have more than basic knowledge about many of them. (YES, I’m admitting that I could be incorrect!)
However, even if one doesn’t have vast amounts of provable, factual information, sometimes just getting someone else’s thoughts to consider can be worthwhile. I think that’s at least partly why I like this Shoe cartoon.
Many of us like to read, although, these days, many of us spend far too much time reading our phones and not enough time reading books, said the Librarian’s son. Much stuff written for quick and easy consumption on our small screens isn’t particularly well-written and seems even less likely to have been well-thought-out, or examined for any relation to reality (FACTS). I do NOT want to turn this into a political discussion, but it’s my opinion that the amount of actual thought which seems to be reflected in much of our political news, and published opinion and commentary is, at best, minuscule, especially when it is intended for consumption online. Far too many people simply “pop off” about topics which, if one takes the trouble to actually look into the facts, it becomes evident all too quickly that the writer has little, if any, actual knowledge or experience related to what they are discussing. And I include many so-called “experts,” especially on “social media.”
I remember advising my students, when they were working on research papers, to be especially careful to seek multiple sources, especially when dealing with online information, as there is reason to be somewhat suspicious of info about the space program [for example] from someone with an address like “[email protected].” It seems much more likely that one might get actual, verifiable, authoritative facts if their address is something like: “[email protected].”
I think it’s quite sad that far too many people are, apparently, convinced that simply repeating something over and over (generally loudly) should be enough to convince any one of anything. I’m even more appalled that that technique actually seems to work a fair amount of the time. I think we’d be considerably more likely to have a better, more productive society, if we’d all just stop shouting and, at least occasionally, take the time to actually examine the ideas of some of the folks who have studied something and gone to the trouble of writing about it in a well-crafted book, novel, or paper. NOTE: I’m NOT suggesting that one MUST (or even SHOULD) accept even that sort of information without examination. Several sources are ALWAYS MUCH better than just one! Then the ideas presented should be compared and examined with some actual thinking! Obviously, this would seem likely to produce better results than just blindly repeating what “somebody said on the internet” as some of our “leaders” seem to be fond of suggesting should be considered adequate. (For example, I may have opinions about many things, but I acknowledge that do NOT have more than basic knowledge about many of them. (YES, I’m admitting that I could be incorrect!)
However, even if one doesn’t have vast amounts of provable, factual information, sometimes just getting someone else’s thoughts to consider can be worthwhile. I think that’s at least partly why I like this Shoe cartoon.
Oh, well, maybe I’ve had what I hope is a good influence on someone. In any event, I plan to be back in a couple of weeks to express more “old guy” thoughts about something else. Maybe you’ll be back, too.
In the meantime, why don’t you read a book? Or an editorial? Or some history? You never know what you might find out that would be of value.
🖖🏼 LLAP,
Dr. B
In the meantime, why don’t you read a book? Or an editorial? Or some history? You never know what you might find out that would be of value.
🖖🏼 LLAP,
Dr. B
P.S. Helen, the radio talk/advice show host in the Dustin, cartoon strip just MAY have come up with the most perfect definition of genius yet. What do you think?
I like this a LOT! RSB
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