Book Club Quandry

So as you may or may not recall, I partake in a monthly book club w/ my MOM’s Club group, which let me just say right now, I enjoy very much. However, that being said, am I the only one on the planet who can pick a decent book? It’s like each host is in a top secret competition to see who can pick the longest, most boring, “best selling” book. And you want to know what the prize ends up being? NO ONE WANTS TO SHOW UP FOR THAT BOOK CLUB BECAUSE NO ONE READ THE LOUSY BOOK. I mean come ON, do you really think I am not only NOT going to want to read Middlesex, but ENJOY it at that? Which FYI, no one enjoyed that book, not even the host who picked it, and ¾ of the people didn’t even finish it so we ended up talking about our first menstrual cycles and embarrassing puberty moments. Actually I sort of sat there blushing on the sofa as I tend to be somewhat of a prude, but everyone else sure was happy sharing the gory details.

And that leads me to The Red Tent. Okay, SERIOUSLY. The entire book was about women menstruating in biblical days. There was nothing enjoyable what-so-ever about that book for me. I suffered through the entire book along with the characters, just WAITING for it to pick up somewhere, but alas, found myself at the end of the book saying “That’s it?” Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want to come off shallow here, as I really am an intelligent person, and I really do like being challenged in my thinking when I read books. I do enjoy reading books out of my laugh-out-loud pretend the world is a perfectly cheery place type of humorous books. But can we stop with the boring book competition? Stay at home Mom’s are dropping like flies from book club!

Last month we reviewed Daniel Isn’t Talking by Marti Leimbach and it was ok. The main character really had a creep for a husband which is unfortunate since she pretty much had her hands full with two young children, one of them being autistic (who wasn’t diagnosed as such until he was something like 3).

Anyhoo, this month we are onto the ever *exciting* The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards which so far is as predictable as the last book. And from the looks of it, next months selection, My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult seems to be nearly interchangeable as well with these other two books. I mean seriously. Why can’t someone pick a classic like Catcher in the Rye or The Great Gatsby to revisit in book club. Am I the only one who is noticing less and less people coming to book club? I know I’ve speculated about my superhuman powers before, but just as being invisible isn’t one of my special powers, neither is it anyone else’s in book club (at least I feel pretty sure about that anyway).

Okay okay. So all this has nothing to do with great finds or fun projects or anything even REMOTELY Martha related. So, please excuse the rant today. But it’s Friday so I’m letting my creative juices pool a little today so I can give you guys some great projects and ideas next week and this means I plan on doing a lot of reading today. This weekend I’m going to be in full-fledged Fall decorating mode so I will have lots to share next week. So fasten your seat belts and get ready for the ride next week!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got my own seatbelt to buckle to drop mini monogram #1 off at pre-school and take mini #2 to have some fun and jump on the trampolines for play time at the gymnastics place, then go pick up a few new books to liven up my nightstand selection. See you next week for lots of Fall fun!