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Pittsburgh, PA
This group's been around for 15 years—so long they could write the book on book clubs. In fact, they have...
Talk about your book—
Naked Came the Book Club? In 1995 Dave Barry and a group of writers cobbled together a mystery spoof, Naked Came the Manatee, so we followed suit, each of us writing a chapter. Our only requirement was to include something about nudity in each chapter. It's funny, but we have no plans to sell—despite much clamoring from publishers.
What books have you read?
We've read nearly 150 books, so it's hard to single out only a few, but here goes: Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry), And Ladies of the Club (Helen Hooven Santmyer), Moor's Last Sigh (Salman Rushdie), The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver). More recent works: The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold), The Dive from Clausen's Pier (Ann Packer), The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls), Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen).
We also read a fair amount of non-fiction: Life and Death in Shanghai (Nien Cheng
), The Professor and the Madman, the history of the Oxford English Dictionary (Simon Winchester).What are you reading now?
Women Who Run with the Wolves (Clarissa Pinkola Estes). Each of us is to come with one folktale chapter that best fits our own personality or life experiences.
A particular club favorite?
Eat, Pray, Love (Elizabeth Gilbert—see LitPicks recommendation.) The book inspired an incredibly rich discussion about our personal experiences and spiritual lives. We loved it. The host also served dishes from Italy, India, and Indonesia. (See our LitFood recipes.)
Any book that disappointed you?
The Interpretation of Murder (Jed Rubenfeld) had too many ideas and plot strands—it was hard to separate out one area to discuss. We felt as if we were being thrown everything all at once.
What kind of books appeal to your members?
We've evolved over the years. When we first started, we wanted entertainment—plot-driven books with plenty of romance and...uh, sex. Now we look for books that speak to us personally, that have a powerful message relating to our lives.
Also, at first we really didn't know how to discuss books. Today we "read" differently and have become fairly adept literary critics. We appreciate well-constructed plots and well-developed characters.
Any problems you could share with us?
A couple we've gradually resolved over our long span:
1) No competing over food. Our unspoken rule is that we're thrilled with whatever our host
provides: a bowl of chips or an elaborate ethnic dish.
We all lead busy lives and do whatever
we can manage at the time.
2) Keep an open mind. We've learned to tone down our disagreements about books,
understanding that all points of view are valid.
How do you operate?
1) We meet monthly at each others' homes. One year we tried a restaurant setting, but it was
too confining.
2)
We choose books monthly, sometimes 2 months in advance—everyone taking a month.
3)
If it's your book, you lead the discussion and host the meeting. It's a big job all at once, but it's only once
a year.
Any rules?
1) No choosing your favorite book—it leads to hurt feelings.
2) No more members. It's hard enough to make sure all nine of us get heard—there's a lot of interrupting and talking over one another. In fact, our teacher members say they
would never put
up with that kind of behavior from their students! But we love the spontaneity.
Any activities outside the realm of books?
Yes! We have sleepovers, every July we attend a theatrical production together, we write songs to celebrate milestones, and we even designed our own T-shirts themed to our book, Naked Came the Book Club" (nah, you don't really want to know...).
