what's the first rule of book club?

Bring exact change for the pizza delivery guy…….. That was my book club’s first rule, anyway.

I was in a book club for a really long time. Five years with the same group of women, give a take a few new and retired members here and there. We met one Monday night a month, pretty faithfully, taking breaks only during the holiday season.

Some of the women were close friends and some were women I didn’t know at all except for one night a month. But I would REALLY look forward to catching up with these women to hear about their jobs, their relationships, their trips to Burning Man….and to hear their opinions about the book.

I jokingly referred to my book club as the Worst Book Club Ever because it was rare that we spent more than 45 minutes actually discussing the book. We would most likely sidebar (Yes, I just used sidebar as a verb and I like it so I’m using it) our way into sex, reality TV, sex, food, relationships, sex and Hollywood gossip. And sex. Did I mention sex? And we always had more than a few bottles of wine to drink.

In fact, we got so lackadaisical that we instituted a rule that we only had to read 75 percent of the book in order to attend.

Sadly, we all just became really busy with life and living it. One member got married. Another member got married AND had a baby. A member moved to DC to go to law school. I got very busy with a project at work. And so on. So we disbanded, which seemed like the right thing to do.

In 5 years, we went through promotions, lay-offs, break-ups, marriages, pregnancies, purchasing homes, sick parents and A LOT of wine together. So what if we weren’t the most disciplined in our approach to Book Clubbing? We had a great time together and if a book was the catalyst for that, then I say BRAVO.

I remember one night we were discussing “Shadow of the Moon.” I had just broken up with my long-term boyfriend and I was constantly on the verge of tears. One book club member gave me the following advice to moving on from this man: “Just get up every morning, look in mirror and tell yourself……I’m fucking FABULOUS.” It didn’t necessarily make things any easier, but it made me laugh then and it makes me laugh now. I don’t remember a damn thing about that book, but I do remember that conversation.

Every night as I sit on the sofa and look at my bookcase, I see certain books that remind me of Molly, Christine, Lucinda, Ann, Christina, Melissa, Cynthia, Krystn, Denise, Nicole, Stephanie and Alicia (and a lot of other amazing women who drifted in and out) and I smile at the memories.

I miss you, book club.