By Elaine Sheets
Brain Candy
What do you envision when you think “Book Club”? Do you see a bunch of old women with nothing to do but read romance novels? Do you see boring books with everyone on the same page? Do you see something that looks like school and homework?
Well, I’m here to tell you that not all book clubs are alike. We, the previously named “Pocahontas Coun-ty Women’s Book Social,” are a group of almost 50 (on paper) diverse women. I have records from the books that we have read going back to 2008 – but I suspect a group met before that! We have women in their 20s up through 80 year olds. Some of us are retired and some are still working. Many of us have moved to this county from elsewhere, but we have chosen this county as home. The backgrounds of these women are also quite diverse: teachers, scientists, physical therapists, technologists, astronomers, homemakers, writers, doctors, artists and entrepreneurs. With these back- grounds you’d expect different reading interests, and you’d be correct. Our members enjoy everything from nonfiction, fantasy, and fiction, to romance, science, history, action, adventure, beach reads, academic texts, dystopian tales, horror, political, religious, humorous, cookbooks and well, you name it, it’s probably been read by someone in this group. The books are as diverse as the women that read them.
How do you sort through all of that and find a book to settle on?
We don’t.
This group follows the path of least resistance with the inevitable outcome of broadening each other’s reading tastes. Each of us brings a book or two that we have just read to briefly summarize for the group. Sometimes we read the same book but bring diverse viewpoints to the discussions. We don’t always agree on books, but we always respect the opinions of our members. The key principle of this group is that all books and opinions are welcomed without judgement. This openness is one of the most cherished aspects of our group. Fostering an environment where ev-eryone feels free to share their thoughts is incredibly important to us.
Remember when I said that there were about 50 of us on paper? Yes, there are, but only around nine to 20 show up to the in-person group. What about the others? Some women have moved away, and some have very busy schedules that don’t allow them much time for in-person. During the monthly get together, notes are taken about each book that is discussed, and the list is then emailed to all members. We also have a Facebook page that is devoted to book talk, news and events. We try to include anything that is going on in the local libraries as well.
Earlier I mentioned that we were called the Pocahontas County Women’s Book Social. We recently renamed ourselves “Brain Candy” due to a comment from a new member. She felt that this group provided her with not only a diverse group of women to connect with, but also intellectual stimulation for the heart, mind and soul amid our daily rural life. We voted to change our name because agreement was overwhelming. Did I mention that no “one” is in charge? Decisions are decided through majority input.
We have been fortunate to connect with authors. Author Lisa See agreed to meet with us online to discuss her book, The Island of Sea Women (highly recommended) during COVID. BANA Tea company provided a special selection of Korean teas that we could purchase to go along with the book. We had an Irish genre novelist, Keith Donohue, discuss his newest novel The Girl in the Bog. Our hope is to bring in more authors as time goes on. We also try to attend the author talks provided by our local libraries. There have been road trips to the theater to view a movie that was adapted from one of the novels that was discussed. Our group likes to spice things up now and then with “theme” months. Some of the themes have been West Virginia authors, biographies, poetry, Native American history, women in history, and body parts!
If you want to have a no muss, no fuss event centered around books, I suggest that this is one of the simplest, most fun and inspirational ways that you can do it. We meet once a month, bring snacks/beverages to share and a book or two to summarize. If someone does not want to share a book there is no pressure. You may just show up to listen, have conversations with some interesting women, and come away with a list of books to try out. We like to rotate the location of our get togethers as well. Sometimes we open our homes, meet in a yard, the public library, or the back room of a church – whatever is convenient at the time. (During COVID-19 we connected on ZOOM.)
In closing I’d like to say that diverse genres, backgrounds and opinions make for a wonderfully stimulating evening. There is hope that everyone feels safe enough to discuss openly without fear of judgement. We are a “private” group on Facebook but are open to any woman who would be interested in joining us.
With such a large county maybe you’d like to start one in your neighborhood.
