23 in Book Club
I think the top thing I look forward to each month at work is book club. On my first day, I walked into the town hall (the kitchen/cafeteria/hangout spot) to a roundtable discussion that I determined to be about a book. I sat down immediately, and I’ve been hooked since. Not just because I get to read, but because I get to hang out with coworkers I wouldn’t otherwise see and learn about. Since I’ve joined, I do take some credit for moving away from monotonous non-fiction self-help books to various types of fiction books that also have important lessons.
Last month, after finishing Jeannette McCurdy’s memoir, we decided we wanted a happier read. Yesterday, we met about the most recent book, Take Me Home. This was a great book that I would actually recommend, and it covered some really interesting – especially interesting at my particular organization – and timely topics. But it was not a happy book. I found it happier than I’m Glad my Mother Died, but not by much. It is hard to find a happy book! Let me know if you have any recommendations in the comments.
Our discussion yesterday was funny and honest. The protagonist in Take Me Home is a 23-year old, and I found myself in the hot seat more than once, fielding questions about what I thought about her love interest, her parents, and her mental health. There was a (and I am NOT spoiling anything) love triangle of sorts, and I found myself explaining girl code to my coworkers (my older, male coworkers in particular) – you shouldn’t really date your best friend’s ex, don’t let a guy come between the friendship… I also found myself telling them that if I were the protagonist and my baggage-filled ex showed interest in my best friend, then yeah, I would have a problem with it, too. I might try to play it cool, but there would definitely be some internal dialogues happening. This was not something I ever expected to talk about at work, but we were all laughing and at the very least, I gave them some insights into their daughters’ minds.
Although this was one of the more light-hearted book club meetings, we’ve had others that have reminded me of some important lessons and implicit biases I have as a reader. In our book club, we have immigrants, people of color, people with English as a second language, and a bunch of other identities. Because of them, I’ve become a different and more aware reader (miles to go still), and that never would have happened without it.
The Bam Cam 