Book Club

 

   I've been getting invitations to join a book club for quite a while. I've always found an excuse not to go. I didn't want to drive to the house of the hostess. I hadn't read the book. I wasn't interested in the book that month. I had to work the evening of the meeting.

  I was starting to run out of excuses. The group is now online and they were reading a book that interested me. I decided this was the month to join in. It was too late for me to read the book they planned to discuss. There was a documentary based on the book. I watched it. Reading the book would have been better, but at least I wasn't totally unprepared.  Nervously, I logged in and joined the meeting.

   It was smaller than I expected. There were only six people logged in including me. A couple more joined in late, but the total was less than ten. Pretty soon it was clear that I had "read" the wrong book. This was not the way I wanted to get started. The book they were discussing was 'The Tattooist of Auschwitz'. I thought they were going to discuss the book 'Becoming' by Michelle Obama. With the small amount of people at the meeting there was no way to leave the meeting without drawing attention. I decided to stay and keep quiet. 

  I was able to follow the discussion fairly well. I had studied World War II in high school and had learned a bit more history while studying the German language high school. I nodded in agreement with some of those who commented during the discussion. 

   Toward the end of the discussion, I was asked if I'd read the book. I figured honesty was the best policy and confessed that I had mixed up what book was being discussed. When I mentioned that I had watched a documentary the book 'Becoming', one of the club members tartly informed me that the documentary was about the book tour and the book itself was not discussed. She was partly right, however the documentary did touch on parts of the book. I decided that I was going to ignore that comment. 

      The discussion became more about the condition of Europe specifically Germany after the war. I was on more sure ground here. Part of my father's family was still in Europe after the was although they had been forced to flee their home and had relocated somewhere in what was then West Germany. I told a couple family stories.

  As the meeting broke up, I discovered that 'Becoming' would be the next book discussed. There was plenty of time for me to read it. I promised the other ladies at the meeting that I would be more prepared. Then I logged off.

  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Except for the one comment, I felt welcomed and comfortable. I'm definitely attending next month.