Brenda D. Vasser is a member of “The Ladies Sunday Book Club” in Seattle, WA. Recently, the 22-member group celebrated its 11-year anniversary. In this interview, Brenda discusses some of the activities that the book club members organize to spice up their meetings, which include book-themed games and crafts.

Q: Does your group have a name and/or a theme? How long has your group been in existence?

A: “The Ladies Sunday Book Club.” We just celebrated our 11th year.

Q: How many members do you have? How many men, how many women? What age are most of your members?

A: We have 22 members --- no men and 22 women. We are all 68 and older.

Q: How often do you meet? Where do you meet?

A: We meet six times a year. We meet in four restaurants, a home for the holidays and a weekend retreat.

Q: Do you eat at your meetings? What do you eat? Who brings the food?

A: Yes, we eat individual meals at our meetings in restaurants.

Q: Who leads the discussion? Do you use reading group guides?

A: It varies from meeting to meeting. We sometimes use discussion guides.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: All genres.

Q: How do you choose your books? Do you choose one new book at each meeting, or do you choose the books for a number of meetings ahead of time?

A: We discuss options as a group and select titles a year at a time.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: We play games, use themes, decorate hats to reflect characters in the book, cast the movie and write new endings for books. We also make an annual retreat to local area resorts that offer activities, spa and an enjoyable environment.

Q: What advice would you give to other reading groups?

A: Have fun, invite new friends, have good wine. We are a multigenerational, multicultural ladies reading group with members from the greater Seattle/Tacoma area.

We meet every other month in February, April, June, August, October and December, usually on the third Sunday of the month (we determine our calendar in December). We meet in local area restaurants, except for our annual retreat trip and our December meeting, which is held in a member’s home. Our annual membership fee is $20.00

Q: Is there anything else unique or noteworthy about your group that you would like to share?

A: We really enjoy each other. We are all different and come from various careers and family backgrounds. We read the books, and we don’t shame those who don’t finish the book due to life’s hiccups. We agree to sometimes disagree on likes and dislikes, and we remember it’s a book.

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