I digress. So I was talking to this nice young man who told me about how he was kind of a nerd, and I told him that I was totally OK with it. Then I said, ‘Everyone is a little bit of a nerd about something.’ Naturally, he asked what I am a nerd about. I decided to leave out the part where I have taken up grandmotherly pastimes like knitting and simply said, ‘Books. I’m a huge literature nerd.’ This is 100% true. Just being around books makes me feel good and happy and content. When I’m stressed, a walk around a bookstore really improves my mood. I read a quote from some famous person once that went something like, ‘Those who do not read live one life. Those who read live hundreds.’ This is so true. I would propose that for much of my early life, I learned more from the books I read for fun than I did in my classes at school. I learned so many more words than my vocabulary books could teach. I learned about other cultures and times and people that were not included in my history curriculum. Reading has always been sort of an escape for me. It lets me go to all of those places and times and to meet all of those people that I never could in one lifetime, even the most exciting one.
Another thing I really love is wine. I could (and probably will) write an entire blog post just about wine, so I will leave it at this: I really like to drink wine. Wine is especially good when enjoyed while talking and laughing with my good friends - old and new. I decided to make a move to combine all of these things that I love so much: a book club, wine and laughter required.
I came across several ‘books women should read in their twenties’ lists in various places on the interwebs, so I decided this would be an interesting way to direct this club. I’m sure we will all have great opinions and discussions about these books that are supposed to inspire us and help us cope as we go through this stage in our lives. I’ve tried to pull together women from various parts of my life, and will encourage them to bring more friends, to make sure we have a variety of ideas and opinions for good discussions.
I’m gathering the core group of friends in the next couple of weeks to narrow down our list and decide the order in which we will read. When we figure it out, I’ll post the list and try to post reviews and some of the thoughts that we discuss. I’m really hoping that this will be an interesting new direction for this directionless blog you so kindly read.
A final thought about this new idea, attributed on Pinterest to Robert Pattinson, but I won’t make that official. Regardless of who said it, I completely agree, and I want to find someone who will feel this way about me when I read:
“If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are. Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable."