For far too long I've been jealous of all the book clubs everyone else seems to be involved in. I've wanted to be a part of a book club for years. There was talk of organizing one as part of a Relief Society Enrichment group, but the Stake President shot down that idea. We were told in no uncertain terms a book club would not be allowed in any form as a church affiliated program. There have been a few times I've known women to try to set one up with women from church, but not within the organization of the church, but they never got off the ground. So when I got a call from my friend Kelly last week saying she was starting a book club and would I be interested in coming to the first planning meeting, I jumped at the chance! And it looks like we're actually going to be able to make this one work!

We started slowly, discussing books we like, the types of books we want to read (it's going to be hard to come to any kind of consensus on books in this group), and when we want to meet. There were 8 of us, with 4 others who wanted to come but couldn't make the first meeting. We determined when we were going to meet, assigned months for meetings, and picked our first book. It was decided that the person who is hosting will provide a list of 3-4 books before their month and there will be a vote on which of those books to read next. Not a bad system for the short term, but I was hoping for a list that we could have a few months ahead of time, or even more.

Our library has a list of 50 books that they have book club kits for. It includes 15 copies of the book plus other material to facilitate a book club meeting about the book. Our first book happened to be a book on this list! Hopefully we can actually get the kit. In looking at the list, the book I'd planned on doing for my month wasn't on it, but there are books on it I'd love to do for my month. I'm seriously considering Life of Pi.

But back to the now. Our first book is Pope Joan. Two women came with that book on their list of possible books, and it got votes from 6 of the women there. I was the only one who'd actually read it, but it seemed to interest everyone. The only problem is our first real meeting to discuss the book is the day I come home from Texas! I'm going to miss our first book discussion! I've read the book before so it's not a really big deal, but I was looking forward to discussing the book with others who have read it. I'll just have to try really hard to not miss any other meetings.

I am so excited to finally be a part of a book club that looks like it'll actually get off the ground. The women involved are diverse and interesting and intelligent. We probably won't agree on much, but it won't ever be boring.