June 2021 Spotlight: Convivial Readers, Divas, and Darlings Book Group
Our June 2021 Spotlight comes from the Pacific Northwest and has been sharing good company for 15 years!
After fifteen years, and a hundred twelve books later, our book group in Bellingham, WA, has
certainly covered some literary territory.
Our initial group was formed of work colleagues who, after years of working together in the school district, realized that we enjoyed each others’ company and shared a mutual love of reading. Our first book was The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch. After the first year, when at one book group meeting the numbers had dwindled and there were just four of us, we realized we needed to expand our circle, and we each committed to inviting one or two others from our other friend groups to the book group. Thus was born, The Convivial Readers, Divas, and Darlings, a group of 10 women who are as diverse as we are alike.
We are now 10 women who love to read, love to share food and drink, and who have chosen to go on many adventures together. Over the years we’ve shared important life experiences: births, deaths, retirements, travels, personal and career ups and downs, and family drama. But most importantly we’ve shared lots and lots of laughs, and it has been this that has gotten us over this latest hurdle of the pandemic.
Since March of 2020, we’ve only been able to gather for our book group twice in person, outside and six feet apart! We really miss being able to have our usual book gatherings, which most often take place at one of our homes, with lots and lots of sharing of food and company. The books always dictate the theme, thusly, we have had some very exciting and exotic meetups. However, we’re committed to each other, and realize how much we rely on each other for our sanity, so we have continued to meet via Zoom on a regular basis. We share book ideas, movie and TV shows, political and social justice stories, health news, family pictures, recipes…. everything that makes life rich and fulfilling.
We just met on Zoom to talk about The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. Our next book will be Lucky You by Carl Hiaasen. Whoever hosts the next meeting chooses the book, and this keeps our reading as diverse as we are (as illustrated by the above mentioned books!). What began as a book group – a place to share books – has become an essential part of our lives, and we each look forward to the next time we can gather, in whatever form that takes.
Sincerely,
Bev, Connie, Donna, Dorcie, Gina, Jane, Joan, Joanne, Sandy, Sheila
All of our Spotlight Groups receive a box of discussable books. HarperCollins will be sending the members of the Convivial Readers Book Group free copies of these great titles:
Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams
Dream Girl by Laura Lippman
God Spare the Girls by Kelsey McKinney
Sisters of the Resistance by Christine Wells
Anne of Manhattan by Brina Starler