Three Decades and Counting

As good ideas have a tendency to do, this one rose like dumplings in a bubbling pot of chicken stew.

The idea, the Field School Book Group, now aged to perfection, has been meeting and discussing books – and just about everything else – for 30 years!

Our bookish circle of avid readers was a spontaneous outgrowth one evening following a PTA board meeting. Parents and the principal from Field School gathered to tend to the usual business at hand. Chatting over this-and-that afterwards, the idea emerged and we’ve been meeting happily ever after.

While none of us now have children attending Field School, several grandchildren do. A few of our members are former Field teachers and most of our members live close to the school, while several travel a little further afield to attend. Some of us have been members since the beginning and a few of us are relatively new, but, I can honestly say that we all fit in like well-developed characters in a novel and that each member brings me to books I might not otherwise have read and add interesting thoughts and points of view to our discussions.

We’ve read everyone from Noah Chomsky to Judy Blume, and everything from  “Hatchet”  to “The Gold Coast Madame”. We have had the pleasure of hosting a few authors who have joined us in discussions of their books, both as part of our monthly meetings or on a more casual venue (think wine and dinner/coffee cake).

We are, shall I say, a “gabby” bunch and sometimes we talk about the book. Actually, we always talk about the book. When we began, three decades ago, book discussion questions were hard to find. Now, they are as easy as the tap of computer keys and many books have discussion questions in the back of the book.

We occasionally take excursions after reading a book. A tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park followed a reading of Nancy Horan’s “Loving Frank” with lunch at Hemingway’s Bistro.  I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a tour of the location of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition after reading The Devil and the White City by Erik Larson.

Isn’t the tea candle great? One of longest attending members, Sharon, presented each of us one at our recent January meeting, where we have a very lively discussion of “Mrs. Poe” by Lynn Cullen.

Are you in a book discussion group? What have you read lately?

Amazing authors who have spent time with the Field School Book Group:

Tracey Bianchi https://www.amazon.com/Green-Mama-Guilt-Free-Helping-Planet/dp/0310320364

Andra Watkins http://andrawatkins.com/?wref=bif

Tyra Manning http://tyramanning.com

 

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