LitClub:  The Voyager Book Club
Lakeway, Texas

MEET THE VOYAGER Book Club — travelers in the land of literature. For 12 years, books have taken this group on a journey of discovery.

Tell us about yourselves.
We number 18, give or take. We're serious about our books and our food. We're well educated, enthusiastic readers who enjoy the social aspect of our club.

What books have you read lately?
These are some of the books we've read in the past year:

Infidel
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Same Kind of Different as Me
Diary of Mattie Spenser
Water for Elephants
Ghost at the Table
Bean Trees
Five Fortunes

Any all-time favorites?
Probably, The Red Tent; it was such a wonderful, rich story.

We also liked Other Powers: The Age of Spiritualism, Suffrage and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull by Barbara Goldsmith. It's highly readable—actually, a social history of the US in the 19th Century.

We loved Peace Like a River because it's one of the most poetic books we know of (except for maybe The Prince of Tides.)

What about books that led to good discussions?
Yes, these five led to very thoughtful, spirited discussions:

A Confederacy of Dunces
Thirteenth Tale
Candide by Voltaire
Bel Canto
Their Eyes Were Watching God

Did any lead to controversy within the group?
Yes, Infidel. Some members felt it was overly political.

Have you done anything special during meetings?
Yes! When we read Water for Elephants, we invited a guest speaker who had once worked for Ringling Brothers Circus. We were able to learn first hand some of the inner workings of a real circus!

How do you structure meetings?
We meet at 10:00 for snacks and chat, and usually begin our discussion at around 10:45. (We take our snacking seriously). Our discussions usually last until noon—whereupon we revisit the snack table for more chatting and chewing!

Any rules or guidelines on choosing books?
Not really, although mostly we do try to select books in paperback. Our local library will order any books from our list that they don't already have.

How do you select your books?
Each member submits the titles of books she would like to nominate, along with a summary of the book, and as many as she would like to nominate. This list is sent to all the members so they can vote on their favorites for our book-of-the month discussion. However, many of our members keep this list as a yearlong reading guide for interesting books that their friends have read and enjoyed

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