October 20, 2010 Meeting

Tonight we met at the home of one of our new members, Vicki. The book we discussed was The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow. This was an interesting choice and somewhat different from anything we have read to date. The book was written by a Journalist rather than an Author and the style reflected that. It followed the lives of 11 women who had maintained a friendship for over 40 years. I would have to say that the majority of us were not overly taken with the book. Some found it repetitive and others just boring. However, it did bring on lots of interesting discussion. We talked about our own experiences in High School. Seems most of us did not belong to the "In Crowd" and so could not enjoy the story of "the shit sisters" as was intended. They reminded us of people we hadn't liked. It's amazing how many scars can be left from our youth. We did acknowledge that this lasting friendship was very unique. We also talked about how the strength of our women friends can really sustain us at bad times. So, as often is the case, a book that wasn't a favorite enlisted more discussion than some of the more popular choices. That's the beauty of a Book Club. We are introduced to books we may not select on our own but it is always a learning experience. Till next month.......