November 1999: "Does it ever stop, the wanting?"

Success! We recruited two new members in November 1999, with a third on the way. How did we do it?



By picking a sweaty, violent, time-travel romance novel! New members Sarah (Liz's college friend) and Laura M. (Liz's office mate's girlfriend) joined. Laura's roommate Tajhia picked up Outlander as soon as Laura put it down. She joined the book club in January 2000. Along with Dawn, Katie, Liz and Sutapa, that made a total of 7 members!

"Does it ever stop, the wanting?" was one of the choice phrases offered by 16th century Scot Jamie Fraser to his true love, post-WWII nurse Claire Randall, right before he ravished her. This book has plenty of cringe-worthy moments, but it is a fabulous escape.

October 1999: Lolita

Lo. Lee. Ta. We discussed this book so long ago, but it still resonates with me. The writing is simultaneously breathtakingly beautiful and uproariously funny. But the subject is so horrifying that as a reader, you can never relax into the prose or the story. Whenever I really think about it, I'm awestruck.

We had a great discussion on this book but it occurred at a time when our book club was the smallest - only Dawn, Katie and Liz made it to this meeting. We even tried to drum up excitement by serving only desserts. Still only the three of us came. I'd love to know what our current members think of this book.

Hmm . . . maybe I'll pick another Nabokov when it's my turn next! Perhaps Ada, or Ardor. It's supposed to be pretty steamy. (Just look at the cover!) Which leads me to my next post . . .

March 1999: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Every women's book club should read a female bonding book every now and then. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is one of these. It's good for stimulating discussions about your mother and your oldest friends.

February 1999: Angela's Ashes

Angela's Ashes started a bit of a Frank McCourt following. He came to Durham for a reading and we went and got our books signed, after standing in line for about an hour! Most of us read the follow-up, 'Tis, when it came out. I think we went to see the movie Angela's Ashes together as well.

November 1998: The First Meeting

Our first meeting was at Dawn and Katie’s apartment in Chapel Hill. The book was What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage. There were lots of girls there, and they were all statisticians! Four current members, Dawn, Katie, Liz and Sutapa were in attendance at this seminal meeting.

September 25, 1998: Sutapa’s Party

Sutapa had a cook-out party at the pool of her apartment complex in Chapel Hill on the same night Celine Dion played the Dean Dome. I left work late at 7 and expected to get to the party at 7:30. Maybe I was going to go home and change first, I don’t remember. Having recently moved to the Triangle, I had no friends and was desperate to meet new people. But because of Celine and her throbbing, heart shaped stage, it took THREE HOURS to get to Sutapa’s party from RTP. There I sat, on I-40 surrounded by women of all ages crammed into SUVs and minivans, rocking out to “My Heart (throbbing, surely)Will Go On.” I remember rolling down the window at one point and yelling at another driver, “May I please pass you to exit right out of this traffic? I promise I’m not going to Celine Dion!” As she was a Celine Dion fan, all about love and yummy goodness, probably from some nice town down east like Wilson or Mt. Olive, she let me pass. (Thank you, lady!)

Finally, at 10:30 I got to the party. I had missed the food, some of the drinking, and an appearance by the genuine Carolina ram, but fortunately Dawn and Katie were there. I’m not sure how we met, but here’s what I remember about the conversation between three of us, Dawn, Sutapa, and Liz:

Dawn: “I watch Buffy! Angel is awesome!”
Liz: “Me too!”
Sutapa: “Oprah has a book club, I think it would be really cool to be in one!”
Dawn and Liz: “We do too!”

One of the great things about Sutapa is that when she has conversations like this, she actually follows up! A month later we had our first meeting.