Spoiler Alert.

Never! Just going on record here to say that I will never (never!) reveal too much here about what I am reading. For example, in my last post I gave a few choice details but I said nothing about the story line one couldn't glean from the back cover or at worst from the first chapter. The things I kind of "work out" in these lines mainly involve the connections I make while reading that I can discuss without actually giving away the story. I may ask a question or two, mainly of the rhetorical variety but also in hopes someone will actually post a comment(!) one fine day. (I'm breathless with anticipation...no seriously, someone throw me a bone!)

And when I sometimes make those leaps, you know, light bulb moments, about a book I really just need to share and/or compare notes. I can still see myself in the mirror, bleary-eyed in the early morning, toothbrush stopped mid-stroke, after finishing Choke (Chuck Palahniuk) the night before. Book group often serves this purpose. And my husband has a line up on his bed side table of things I'm done with and want him to get to so I can talk to him about them. Either option is sometimes not immediate enough when I just need to get it out when the ideas are fresh and then move on to the next thing.

I'm now about two-thirds through Calamity and I just have to say again how much I love it (note the fact I now refer to it with just the one word - a term of endearment.) My friend Sarah will sometimes describe books as making her "brain feel all tingly" and this one definitely fits that bill for me. I'm not sure I will really write more about it. I guess we'll see.
It had been bothering me that my post about Bel Canto came at the half-way point and then I fell mute on that subject. I recently realized that's actually about perfect. To discover any more than that is up to you.

As you can see from my Book Group Bull Pen there is just the one book at the moment. It is our last on this year's list. That is about to change! We meet February 4th to discuss A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) and also to choose the next twelve books we will read. I have been working on my list and have more ideas this time than ever before. We've changed our structure a bit and rather than choosing one book from each member we will choose from one master list. When I think that the choices we make will probably amount to a large percentage of my reading for the next year it is a weighty charge. In the past I've had one book I'm super excited about bringing to the group and that tends to eclipse the other books I offer. I'm also a procrastinator (understatement alert!) so I leave it until just before group. This time I want to be sure I do my due diligence and bring some options I feel really good about.

One title I've known for some time will be on my list: How To Talk About Books You Haven't Read (Pierre Bayard). From the Wall Street Journal: "...is an amusing disquisition on what is required to establish cultural literacy in a comfortable way. Lightly laced with irony, the book nonetheless raises such serious questions as: What are our true motives for reading? Is there an objective way to read a book? What do we retain from the books we've read?" I can't imagine a book group worth it's salt could find a reason not to read this book. Then again, perhaps I've chosen it precisely to find out if buried deep within our lackadaisical group there still lies some serious readers. (Mmmm, a real live litmus test.)

How's that for a spoiler?
;)