beSomething...beDazzling

Once a month, I meet with an amazing group of women for book club. And what do we do? Yes, there is some gossip. Yes, there is eating. Yes, there is laughter. But more importantly, we actually discuss our book!

It has been brought to my attention that many book clubs never actually discuss their books. Now, don't get me wrong, I see absolutely nothing wrong with getting together with your girlfriends for a gab fest and to escape your house for the evening. However, the best part of our book club is the book! (And possibly Elizabeth's fantastic cooking -- it may be a toss-up.)

We've actually had a couple women defect to our book club, surprised and thrilled that there is discussion of the book taking place. One newbie was almost in raptures when she heard that several of us had written down discussion questions and brought them along. Maybe we're a bunch of crazies, but we LOVE it!

And those discussions have been terrific. It's a great way to stimulate your mind, keep it fresh and active. And it's a great way to gain different insights into what you've read. The women in our club are all different -- we come from various backgrounds, cross from one end of the political spectrum to the other, different professions and religions -- but we all have in common our love of the written word and the effect it can have on one's life.

And we've read some great books too (and some not so great ones).

We recently read and discussed Beneath a Marble Sky.



This is a beautiful historical fiction novel about the building of the Taj Mahal, written by John Shors. You can look up this book and his other works at his website:

http://www.johnshors.com/

What was so different -- and brilliant -- about this particular selection, was the author's willingness to talk to a book club about his book. Mr. Shors supplies his email in a letter at the end of each of his novels, thanking you for reading his book and offering to talk to your book club. So, we emailed him and invited him to talk to ours. He graciously accepted and called into our book club for about 20 minutes, allowing us to chat and ask questions. It was a wonderful experience for us and we were truly appreciative of his willingness to make himself available to his fans.

And smart of him too, since he was able to promote his other novels and upcoming projects, and it surely made me want to read some more of his work. Great self-promotion without being domineering.

If you have a REAL book club -- and I'm truly not knocking those clubs that get together in the guise of a book club in order to escape for the night, because we all need that too! -- however, if you have a club that truly enjoys the discussion of a novel, I'd highly recommend reading one of John Shors's books and having him talk to your group. You won't regret it!