The Typical Book Group Report

I came up with a new name for my first book group. You may remember that I was calling it "The Eclectic Book Group", until I realized that lots of book groups call themselves that. Then, I joined another book group, which I am calling my "Friends Book Group", because the members of that book group are also members of a parent support group called "Friends of Different Learners." People who live or work with different learners refer to kids who you may think of as "normal" as "typical learners" or "typical children". Because the members of my first book group are not united by our parentage of different learners, I have decided to refer to the first book group as "The Typical Book Group".

The Typical Book Group met tonight to discuss Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.  There were 8 of us at the meeting, including 5 who had finished the book.  Despite my best efforts, and reading for many hours over the rainy weekend, I went to the meeting with 103 pages left to read.  The people who had finished Cutting loved it, but the people who had not were less enthusiastic.  Apparently, an incredible amount of action happens in the last 100 pages of the hardcover book, (maybe the last 150 of the paperback?) and everything is tied together in the end. 

I will keep reading, as I've finally gotten to a part where the book is hard to put down.  It seems strange that a book should take 400 pages to get to that point though.  If this wasn't a book club book, I would have given up before now.

Next up:  Our BFB for the summer is Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery.  Each year we chose a Big Fat Book (BFB) to read over the summer.  We'll meet next in August.

Still Listening To:  Three Junes by Julia Glass