Vines & Spines

On a sunny restaurant patio in 2013 an idea was born. A group of women sat chattering about the books they've read. Several took napkins and started writing down titles. One brilliant woman suggested we start a book club and Vines & Spines was born. 

That brilliant woman was me by the way! I just threw it out there and wasn't sure this group of ladies would jump on board but they did. 

A night was picked, and we were off. The plan was I'd create a list to keep track of who's pick it was. Our first couple of years we had 6 members. We didn't want to get any larger. That meant each person would pick 2 a year. Whomever chose the book also hosted the meeting - that also included dinner. With everyone bringing something to the dinner. 

The Original Vines & Spines May 2013

We did great for a couple of years. The books picked where more hits than misses. Yet every one had their own opinions, and weren't afraid to share them, about each book. The discussions were real. We did discuss the books even though some menfolk accused of not doing that and just drinking wine. 

Ahh the wine. We certainly had that along with dinner. In fact, one night I think every one of us brought a bottle. The hostess that night dubbed that we were a drinking group with a reading problem. And that stuck. 

A drinking club with a reading problem

I've been tracking book club since it started. I mean, you're not surprised right? An opportunity to do a spreadsheet and collect data? Yes please. 

Here are some very unimportant stats: 

• 121 Book club meetings
• 2 cancelled - though I'm sure the books were read and discussed in the next one
• 12 don via Zoom (thanks Covid)
• Combination of 9 members - Several have come and gone for their own personal reasons. 
• 4 of the original members are still going strong
• Not a single personal glass has been broken

I wish I would have been tracking how many bottles of wine were consumed in those 9 years. I can assume at minimum two bottles per meeting on average. 

What I have loved most about book club is the camaraderie. This group of ladies are the ones that have been with me through most my adult life. All "family" to me. Well, two actually are. The third is an honorary Wraspir. We do talk about the book, but we also spend time chatting about everything else under the sun. I've learned a lot about these women over the years at book club. 

The other thing I've loved the most is the type of books we've read. We've read every genre I think. I cannot even begin to list the books I never would have picked up that turned out to be my favorites. And THIS is why book club is so exciting to me. It opened my mind. It extends my interest. 

The nonfiction one

For example, our first book "Unbroken" by Lauren Hillenbrand, a WWII book, I never would have read. In fact, most the books Janet has picked I never would have read. Janet loves nonfiction and often picks historical type books, along with biographies or autobiographies. This is not a type of book I usually pick up. I've learned a lot about history thanks to the books she's picked. I'll admit there's been a couple I just didn't read. They weren't interesting enough or were not great writing. My top three favorites that she's picked: 

1. Hidden Figures - a story about women in NASA in the late 50's early 60's who were smart and who were there to help the men do their job. I mean, it's about more than that, but that's how I felt about it. Men thinking women weren't smart and the women showing them wrong. 
2. Unbroken - I love WWII stories. This one was heartbreaking like so many stories of WWII
3. Becoming - I love Michelle Obama and this story of their lives in the Whitehouse was very interesting.

Kathy tends to pick more light hearted books. Looking at her books though she is all over the place. She's picked light hearted, historical, and biographies. I have three favorites she's chosen:  

1. Where'd you go Bernadette? by Marie Semple - Her first pick for book club. It was lighthearted, funny, and quirky. 
2. Five Days at Memorial - This book was about a hospital staff during Katrina and how they managed. The decisions they had to make were heartbreaking. The lives lost because of poor leadership or communication was astounding. 
3. Where the Crawdads Sing - Probably my favorite overall. Such a good story and full of twists and turns. 

Sherrie is the 4th long standing book club member. She is sometimes all over the place too, but she loves mysteries. Which is good because I don't often pick mysteries. I want to know whodunnit sooner than most mysteries let you in on the scoop. I tend to read the last chapter of these books so I can see whodunnit and then see how the author writes to that ending. It's a very controversial move for me to make, but I do it all the same. My top favorites for Sherrie includes on that was hard to read. 

1. If You Tell by Greg Olsen - This book is about a woman in Raymond Wa who abused her children beyond belief. It's a true story and that was what made it so disturbing. I watch enough true crime that it only made me flinch a couple of times. But it was a hard read just because of the content. 
2. Echoes by Maeve Binchy - Maeve Binchy is one of my favorite writers. This book drew me in and I fell in love with the characters. In fact, the day after I finished the book I found myself wondering what some of the characters were doing today. 
3. Me Before You by Jojo Moyers - Just a lovely story about acceptance and love. The sequel was just as good. 

Which brings me to our rules. Yes we have rules. Over the years we've added to them because we discover we need them. 

The first rule was nothing over 400 pages (unless approved by all members). Because we read one book a month 400 pages can be too much depending on the time of year. 

Second rule, no series. I chose a book early on that ended and we were all like, what? That's when I realized there were 3 more books in the series. So if you wanted to know how the story ended you had to read all of them. 

Third rule, you don't have to read all the books. If you don't finish by book club then there will be no holding back on the story. Spoiler alerts are aloud. And if the book isn't your cup of tea, don't read it. There are a handful I didn't read and I'm ok with that. I am among the few that I know who are ok with putting down an unfinished book and moving on to a more interesting one. I feel like there's too many good books to read to spend my time reading one I'm not interested in. 

And jokingly we said we may have to take a break from WWII books. We had a run of WWII books for a couple of years. There's a lot of books about WWII that I still need to read. 

And so here we are in our 9th year of book club going strong. We still all love to meet and get together to discuss life and books. Sometimes we pull up questions to discuss. Sometimes we wing it. It has always fascinated me how each of us see a book so differently at times. We each get something different out of it. I see no reason book club will ever end. Some of the members who were once a part of it and stepped away may come back, but if they don't that's ok too. We'll carry on without them. We'll keep reading. We'll keep drinking wine.