Book Club

Last month I attended the first meeting of the "Feminist Book Club." This was started by a small group of co-workers and some friends in response to the Women's March, Emma Watson's book club "Our Shared Shelf," and as a good way to share some of our favorite books and authors who are all about empowering women. The women who attended the first meeting either work in a library setting or are educators, however there are others who were invited but unable to make it, who work in different fields.

Once we had all arrived at the hostesses house, we began the evening with snacks and drinks while introducing ourselves, since there were several people who did not know each other. While this was not a requirement, most everyone wore some kind of feminist apparel, from RBG earrings to Planned Parenthood socks, we were all decked out for the occasion. After introducing ourselves, we went around the room and talked about some of our favorite feminist literature. There was a wide range of books that were mentioned, so we had a lot to talk about. Luckily, there have been LOTS of book list that highlight different feminist issues, so we were able to talk about some of our favorite compilations we had seen as well.

After discovering a little bit about what everyone likes to read and what they had read, (our group was a mix of people who owned multiple copies of The Feminist Mystique to those who hasn't read a lot of overtly feminist material) we discussed how we wanted the book club to be set up. It was decided that we would meet once a month, at either someone's home or in a public location such as a brewery (since this month's meeting falls on St. Patrick's Day, we will be at someones home). Each month we will alternate between fiction and non-fiction since there are so many books that would be excellent discussion pieces. While we didn't decide if there was going to be a leader, the two main organizers took turns asking questions about what we wanted the book club to look like. We definitely agreed that snacks and wine/alcohol was a must because life is better with snacks and booze. The group we have gathered are very opinionated, but also pretty reserved. We definitely don't want to step on anyone's toes or make anyone feel unwelcome, so it felt like when they were asking what we wanted from this book club, everyone was able to have a voice. Although, I am afraid that if no one steps up to be the moderator, it will feel a little like everyone is the vice-president.

We had 10 women attend out of the 13 invited, and we decided for the time being that this was a good number to have while we gather our bearings. It was decided that this is going to be only for women (which bothered by husband because he likes to get together with most of the ladies involved for drinks, but when I explained that he would actually have to read the book, he quickly backed down), however, if in the future we do decide to include men, we took the guidelines from the Seattle Feminist Book Club. 

We ultimately decided that the first book would be The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, to tie in with the upcoming Hulu TV series. After we decided on that, we immediately got off topic to talk about how we hope that Alexis Bledel is better in this than she was in the newest season of Gilmore Girls, how we hoped there will be more Gilmore Girls episodes because you can't just leave us hanging like that, and how strange it was that Elisabeth Moss was married to Fred Armisen. Then it just fizzled into talking about what different shows we all watch and sharing work stories. A general getting to know everyone/catching up with those you haven't seen in a while type thing. 

There was also a Facebook group created so that members could share updates about what book has been chosen and the location for those who were unable to attend. We also share relevant articles, book lists, memes, and any other fun book related thing we find relevant on the site. 

I think this is definitely going to be a very unstructured book club, I think that we will spend a little time each month discussing the importance of the chosen book and how it relates to today's world. Which, interestingly enough, Margaret Atwood shared on an AMA that there's nothing in The Handmaid's Tale 'that didn't happen, somewhere'. I don't think we will solve many of the world's issues, but we are trying to educate ourselves and have fun doing it.