Book club

A little over four years ago, when I first moved to Spokane, a man at church mentioned to me that his wife was in a book club. As soon as I found out who his wife was (that would be you, April), I started campaigning to join. (It didn't take much to get invited. In our first conversation, I told her I liked to read, and she said, "Oh good, you can be in our book club!") Since then, the book club has been the center of my personal social circle in Spokane. It wasn't all about books: we had parties and movie nights, went to Broadway shows together, and spent time at each other's houses. But that monthly meeting to discuss a book kept us together.

I ended up hosting book club at my apartment, largely because I had no small children who would disrupt the discussion. When the book club's founder moved away (miss you, Katie!) she bequeathed the email list to me, so I got to send out the reminders and updates. I read LOTS of books I never would have considered reading, and my life was enriched both by the books and by the people who attended. Membership changed dozens of times through the years, as people moved away and new people moved in, but as my friend Heidi (who's also moving away!) said last night, it was always special.

Last night was the last time I'll attend book club as a regular member. I'll probably catch a discussion once in a while when I'm in town, but it won't be every month and I won't get to attend the mid-month events. Cherie and Amanda took over the hosting and email duties, and I feel like the torch has been passed. Of all the things I'll miss about Spokane, I think I'll miss this the most.

Here are some pictures of book club through the years. (Actually, it's just for about the last two years, since I didn't have a digital camera before that. I wish I had some older pictures.) Love you guys!