I started the book, I really liked the book, and I even plan to continue reading the book, but I didn't finish it for last Thursday. The book was A Man Called Ove, and it is truly a pleasure to read. I mentioned it in one of my Some Things post as a book I wanted to (sort of) read. Well, now that I started it, I definitely want to finish it. I just need to make the time to read it. It's hard when I am also trying to read The Happiness Project, How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and How to Listen so Kids Will Talk, Big Magic, The Artist's Way, Hungry Heart, and The Little Book of Hygge. To be fair, I am not really reading any of these books consistently except for The Happiness Project, The Artist's Way, and The Little Book of Hygge. I also recently ordered Present Over Perfect and 168 Hours, so I desperately want to read these books (I also wrote about these in my Some Things posts: 1.15.17 and 1.22.17 respectively). Adding another book to my list seems a little unrealistic, but it's a novel, and sometimes my mind wants to read a good story. Putting a novel in my mix of non-fiction sounds fun. So, for now, my novel read is A Man Called Ove (talk about a play on words!).
So, since I have not really been reading those other books, they weren't the reason why I didn't read A Man Called Ove. Well why didn't I read it? Because I couldn't put down another book. The book that is no longer on my "What I am reading" list because I actually finished a book! (Hooray for me!) The culprit for my unprepared attendance to my very first book club meeting was because of Truly, Madly, Guilty. Let me just say, I am a BIG Liane Moriarty fan, and this book did NOT disappoint. I seriously could not stop reading the book once I started it. (Well, actually, I did stop reading the book because I was trying to complete that Reading Deprivation task that I wrote about over a month ago, but that didn't work out so well for me as I talked about in this post.) Once I got back to the book, I read it every spare moment I had, and I probably even read it when I really didn't have spare moments and should have been doing something else instead. But it was totally worth it.
Truly, Madly, Guilty was actually a book for a previous book club gathering, but I didn't make it to that one either. I am REALLY bad at making it to these. My new neighbors are probably going to stop inviting me. My intentions are really good, I swear.
So, why couldn't I put the book down? Well, Liane Moriarty has this wonderful way of writing about the present and past throughout the book. She goes back and forth between a time "before the barbecue" and "after the barbecue," so you slowly get to fill in the blanks of the story with each "before the barbecue" chapter. All we know at the beginning of the story is that something bad happened at this barbecue that changed people's lives forever. We learn quickly that there is regret, shame, and anger (as you can sort of gather from the title of the book). The way the pieces unfold, the reader's imagination is likely to go wild trying to predict what happened at that barbecue -- was it an affair, a fight, a terrible accident, a death, a murder? I am certain this was the author's goal, and she achieved it brilliantly. I couldn't stop reading because I just had to find out what happened at that barbecue! It is an awesomely brilliant and captivating read. If you haven't read it yet, go read it. Like right now. It's still on sale at Barnes and Noble and Amazon. Go buy it. But please come back soon.
Fortunately, the women at the book club were very nice about it. I told the hostess ahead of time that I hadn't finished the book. I was actually borrowing her copy, and she insisted that I keep it until I finish it, which was really nice of her. I met women in the neighborhood for the first time, and they were all so lovely and kind. The first hour we just talked, and the hostess offered wine (I immediately liked her) and snacks. Then, we went to the living room, and the hostess had a print out of book club questions. (Where do you get these anyway? Is there a site just for book club questions?) She read the first couple of questions and then passed it around, so each of us read a question and then discussed our responses. The nice thing was, there was no pressure to respond. Book club questions are interesting because you mostly draw on your own experiences for many of the questions, so everyone should be able to participate. Even I was able to participate (even though I was only 20 pages in to the story...shhhhh...no one knew that's all I read). It's quite clever actually to create questions that give a group of people an opportunity to relate and connect to a piece of literature while also connecting with each other. Ah. Whoever invented book clubs is so smart.
Another bonus? Although I learned some information that I did not yet get to in the book, I do not feel that there were really any spoilers for me. I mean maybe a few, but not to the point that I don't want to read the book. I didn't hear the ending. I had to leave a little early because I wanted to get home to put my little one to bed, so it worked out perfectly for me. I'm not sure that I left the best impression though - I was the last to arrive, the first to leave, and I didn't finish the book. Oh well. It's better that they get to know the real me right away anyway.
So, will I go back? I hope so. (If I'm invited again.) The next book is The Rosie Project. I read what it is about, and it sounds like a fun read. But I really need to hurry up and read A Man Called Ove so that I can make time to read this next book. I don't think showing up to another book club meeting without finishing another book would look very good. I guess I better get reading.
Curiously,
Beth
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