Book Choosing

 We've been doing this for years, my book group. I call it my book group, even though it isn't really mine, but it's my job to do the organising, which I do without complaint. 

The group has been meeting for 15 years. My friend Alice got me into this, meeting a group who were loosely connected to her. It was held at Stella's place. She had a new puppy. Unfortunately, said puppy was set to rest earlier this year - she was a great mutt. But that's how I know how long the group has been going. The book was Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin. 

Over the years, people have come and gone. We've met at various establishments around the city of Melbourne, but we settled at La Camera at Southbank, due to its friendly staff, easy menu and proximity to public transport. Since COVID, we've been meeting online on zoom, which has its benefits, especially as most of us aren't working from a central office anymore and you get to drink as much as you like from the comfort of your couch. 

Anyway, early on in the book group, we decided to change the way we chose the books we were to read. Rather than have one person dictate all the choices as was happening in the early days, we decided to put the books to the vote. 

At the last meeting of the year, each member brings along two books they think might be good to read in the group. 

The criteria are as follows:

• It must be fiction
• It should preferably under 500 pages - 550 is probably okay, 600, not so much - you have a month to read the book, you don't want anything too big. 
• It should be of literary or good popular fiction standard - so, in good popular fiction - Jane Harper (Australian Crime novelist) is smiled upon. Dan Brown / Stephenie Meyer / EL James, not so much. 
• It should be easily obtainable in bookshops, libraries etc.

Simples?

Most of the time. The other thing the group are asked to do is provide the Book Bitch with their choices two days before the book choosing meeting. This does two things. It stops double ups - and you'd think of all the books out there, this would be hard, but four of our members wanted to put up Bonnie Garmus' Lessons in Chemistry. It's strictly a first in best dressed basis, so the other members were told to come back with other ideas. 

The other thing this does is allows anybody who can't make the book choosing to vote on the books. Today, Ginny couldn't make it due to illness. Although missed at the meeting, her votes were cast.

Once at the meeting, you get to tell the group why you think your books would be good to read. If you don't have a physical book, you bring along a print of the cover and a synopsis. 

Water glasses are then placed on the books. La Camera is used to this, we've been asking strange things of them for years. 

Once this is all done, you're handed a baggie which contains 25 lollies (sweets) of various shapes and sizes and a disposable rubber glove. The glove is to protect the unwrapped lollies from sticky fingers - and we pass the unwanted sweets on to the wait staff. (The different lollie sizes is a bit of a ruse on my end as it makes it a bit more difficult to work out if your book is in or out. I'm also in the doghouse because I didn't put any clinkers in the bags this year.)

Then you vote with your lollies. You can't put lollies on your own choices, and you can put as many or lollies in the glass of the chosen book as you want. If you don't want to read the book, don't put any lollies in the glass. 

Then, the votes are tallied, we decide on an order in which the books will be read over the year.

And that's it. 

You've got a Christmas wish list, a group of books to read and a good meal in your belly. 

So, what did we choose this year? 

This is our list, with the also rans at the end. 

To be honest, we've barely had a bad book to read since we've been doing this, but the best thing of all is the fellowship of the group. We've been to each other's parties, weddings, houses. We're all readers. It's just a wonderful thing. 

After today's book group a couple of women from the next table came up and asked what we were doing. Suitably impressed they took a photo of the book list and asked for recommendations. 

It was a good day. 

Today's song: