Book Club Vacation

 Even though it does not represent my book group in any way,  I like this cartoon from our latest copy of The New Yorker Magazine.  Why?  Because it's saying to me that being part of a book group changes you.

But why does it matter if you read books on your own or read with a group?  First, in book club, many times, I read books that I would never read on my own.  Second, we discuss the book and I get insights I would never have otherwise.

But my book club is on vacation right now so I'm reading British mysteries for fun this summer.  Here are a couple I've really liked.

• Ice Blue by Emma Jameson.  First of a four book series featuring Lord and Lady Hetheridge.  These books are fun and relationship driven as well as about catching bad guys and gals. 
• Eeny Meeny by M. J. Arlidge.   Warning:  This is an edgy Helen Grace physiological thriller.  

But when book club cranks up again in the fall we will discuss:

• The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende

The title sounds like a summer read but it's not.  It's about a young Jewish girl in California in 1940 who falls in love with the gardener's son.  Then, Pearl Harbour!  

I didn't love the book and would never have read the book without my book club telling me to but I can assure you we will have an excellent discussion and I will be a little bit better person for the experience.  

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