The Jemima J's Book Club
This interview is with Laura Laurent from "The Jemima J's" Book Club in Wisconsin. If you attend their meetings and decide not to eat, you would be missing out on lots of good food. Read on to learn more about the group's selection of meals, as well as the books they have discussed and how they manage to keep their meetings fun.
Q: Does your group have a name and/or a theme? How long has your group been in existence?
A: We are a relatively new group. We have been together a little over a year. We never thought to name our group until we read the book Jemima J by Jane Green and loved it. We felt that a lot of the group could relate to the main character, and it also encouraged some of us to join the local health clubs.
Q: How many members do you have? How many men, how many women? What age are most of your members?
A: We have 14 members but there are about 8-10 members who are always present. Our members range in age from 28 to 60. Most of us work in the school system. There are no men in our group, but one of the husbands reads some of the books with his wife. When we read Population 485 by Michael Perry, he got so excited that they had a hard time sharing the book. He is a volunteer firefighter living in a small town and could relate to the story. He was present at our meeting (at their home) and bought a fire truck (riding toy) and had lots to add. However, this was a larger meeting and he said he couldn't keep up with all of the conversations. :)
Q: How often do you meet? Where do you meet?
A: We meet once a month, usually the second Wednesday (this is always flexible). We meet at members' houses on a volunteer basis.
Q: Do you eat at your meetings? What do you eat? Who brings the food?
A: OF COURSE!!! And do we eat!! Usually the hostess will provide food that somehow fits with the book (sometimes difficult, but we have some pretty creative women). When we read Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, the hostess baked a Mexican chocolate cake made with chili powder, chicken enchiladas, olive dip (salsa) and named them like the recipes in the book. Then we ate and watched the movie together (the first-ever movie with subtitles that many of us have ever seen, since it was in Spanish). The steamy parts of the movie were almost as hot as the food.
We have served bacon sandwiches, a favorite of the main character in Courting Trouble by Lisa Scottoline. Sometimes it is all in the display. The book club in the novel Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik had some creative table settings of food, which were copied by the hostess for that month. This month's book, The Elegant Gathering of White Snows by Kris Radish took place in Wisconsin. The hostess made several dishes that contained cheese. This included an apple cobbler dish that had cheddar cheese and cherries in it, which are in season here in Wisconsin. Delicious!
Q: Who leads the discussion? Do you use reading group guides?
A: No one person is assigned to lead the discussions. When we have a larger group, we have a Sargent of Arms to keep people on the topics at hand. When we get stumped or there's a lull in the discussion, we will use the guides if they are available.
Q: What kind of books do you read?
A: We have read a variety of books: mystery, romance, comedy and nonfiction.
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: Choosing books can sometimes be a challenge. Sometimes we have quite an array to choose from. We get ideas from members, the newspaper or Reading Guide lists. Other times we have a hard time coming up with something (especially if no one had time to look into some suggestions). We have books that members have brought up in past meetings, so if no one has any new ideas then we pick from the hat. We usually only pick one book at a time, but because of summer and people being on vacation and such, we choose two for June and July so that if you couldn't make one meeting you could read for the next. That worked well for most of our members.
Q: What were some of the best discussions or favorite books the group read?
A: Some of our favorite books were: Jemima J by Jane Green, Between Friends by Debbie Macomber, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, Population 485 by Michael Perry, and Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik. We like the books with a variety of characters that our group can identify with. We have such a diverse age group with varied interests that these books seem to get livelier discussions. But not always are our favorite books the ones with the best discussions.
We read A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar, which most of the club did not like but it sure was fun to discuss. Other books that were good for discussion: The Pact by Jodi Picoult and The Elegant Gathering of White Snows by Kris Radish.
Q: How do you keep things fun?
A: We keep things light. No rules. Sometimes one of the members will write to authors or go to author web sites and bring in interesting tidbits of information. Lisa Scottoline, author of Courting Trouble, sent us a goodie bag!!!! We have gone to author book signings or to the movies, like The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. We rate the books on a scale of 1-5. Sometimes we look back and say, "We gave that book a 3????" and this ensues more discussions. Sometimes when we don't have much to say about a book or there is a lull in the discussion, we try to cast who would play the main characters in the book if it were made into a movie.
We are throwing around a weekend road trip. To where? We don't know, but doesn't that sound like fun.
Q: What advice would you give to other reading groups?
A: Keep it small. Sometimes when the whole group is there it is loud and too many different conversations are going on.
Eat, Drink and be Merry!!! Enjoy the comments of others.
Q: Do you have any horror stories, amusing anecdotes, or other special tales to tell?
A: No horror stories. We have some funnies, but I think if you are not there they just might not seem funny. If you get a chance to buy firefighter hats, do it. They have come in handy a few times already at book club meetings, especially when reading or watching Like Water for Chocolate, where some people get so hot you may have to put out their fire.
On our one-year book club anniversary, we had a cake made. A couple of members were wondering why the hostess had all invited us to her house on their wedding anniversary. That brought a few chuckles and they are reminded about it often.
Q: Is there anything else unique or noteworthy about your group that you would like to share?
A: Most of our members are teachers or work for the school district in a small town in Wisconsin. When we first began our book club, word traveled fast. Some of the townspeople wanted to know what we were reading. After our second book, the local dollar store had the books that we had read. We have heard that half the town has read Population 485 and love it. I guess they can all relate to the subject matter.
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