The Club I Love
July 1st, 2008
posted by Adar Kielczewski
A few months ago I saw a movie that sparked an idea for me to begin a book club. Now, being at headquarters has its challenges sometimes—one of which is finding time for yet another activity. One of my friends brought this up when I mentioned my “brilliant” idea. Discouraging thoughts came to mind: Who wants to read anymore anyway? Didn’t I do enough reading in school? I was dissuaded—for a while.
So a few months passed and I forgot about it.
But that’s not how it ends! Coming back from a recent road trip, a car full of girls got to talking (as you know we always do) and I brought up my idea once again. This time it stuck! And so a book club was born.
I must say I’m quite proud of the club. There are six members. Each of us is responsible for hosting a “party” based on which book we chose for the club to read. Each cycle of parties has a theme. Our first theme—books dealing with relationships and roles—provides us an opportunity to read a good handful of books that we’ve always wanted to read but never get to: Fascinating Womanhood; Man of Steel and Velvet; Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus; Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters; His Needs, Her Needs. The sixth book is yet to be decided.
We had our first meeting—for Fascinating Womanhood—just a week ago. Now I had some apprehensions—will we actually talk about the book? Will everyone have read it? Was this a good idea after all?—but they were all quickly put to rest. We talked about Fascinating Womanhood—for at least three hours! We shared thoughts about the author’s statements, discussed what we wanted to change about ourselves, we shared stories about how we were trying to put things into practice, and we realized what an impact not just this book, but the club was already having.
I know book clubs are not for everyone. But I also know, from a very recent example, the value of reading and vigorously discussing a book or an issue with educated minds. The main idea of our book club is to further develop the self. We are aiming to be better women—more educated, more serving, more feminine, etc. We know we can’t do it by simply expecting things to get better.
Needless to say, we are all on the edge of our seats for our next meeting, on Man of Steel and Velvet.
July 1st, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Hey Adar! Wonderful job. Being part of the Club myself I can verify that it has been a tremendous help already. Discussing what we’ve read cements the thoughts and impressions in my mind. And having the club motivates me to get my reading in! Way to share the wealth!
July 1st, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I am proud of you, Adar. It really takes guts to present such a proposal before your friends, but when you have true friends, they will tell you the truth. The truth is: it was a great idea!
What’s more is, I come up with ideas like that all the time. You know, ideas that necessitate me sharing them with others, but I’m not so sure anyone will accept and DO. Your article provides me a little more inspiration and motivation to take the next step and invite someone along to share in the idea–to make it a reality!
July 5th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Adar, what an excellent, creative idea! I love it and there is no surprise that you girls discussed Fascinatng Womanhood for three hours, it is an excellent read! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and if the opportunity arises to join in a book club or begin a book club, I’ll let you know how it goes. I hope to hear more about the success of this “new born club”!
July 8th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Hmmmmmn …. I think me and my friends should start a book club …:)
July 24th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Good work, Adar. I thought of another great book you could look into: The History of Southern Iceland. Just kidding! I am, however, a big fan of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. How about a reading list for trueeducation.org readers, including fiction works? I was recently struggling to come up with a book suggestion for a friend, who is 12. By the time I thought of “Anne of Green Gables,” I realized that it’s hard for young teens to find good books. Fiction isn’t the best, but it does stimulate critical thinking.
August 7th, 2008 at 2:39 am
Mrs. Jacques might be on to something there: have a recommended reading list for trueeducation.org! How about an interactive ‘book club’ section on the site? People could suggest books, rate them, write a review about them etc. It would probably be a really profitable exercise.
August 27th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Good job Adar!
Mrs. Jacques and Mr. Howard, I also love the idea of a book club section on the ‘True Education’ site for readers. My son’s an avid reader and we’d really use the site!
August 28th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Thanks Mrs. Wallace, you can check out the reading list we started here:
http://www.trueeducation.org/2008/08/18/the-true-education-reading-list/