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The author of the “engrossing” (People) international bestseller The Room on Rue Amélie returns with a moving story set amid the champagne vineyards of France during the darkest days of World War II, perfect for fans of Heather Morris’s The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met, well-read, and well-fed. Greetings once again from my lair of isolation! Elbow bumps to all of you, I hope you’re taking deep breaths and practicing some kind of self-care.
Some levity for you: spring has sprung in Portland and that brings peak allergy season for me. That means sinus pressure, which gives me some mild vertigo, a fact I was reminded of while doing some yoga to unwind. Down dog turned into Down Diaz. I face planted, y’all! Then I cackled.
Let’s talk about book club as a balm for our anxious souls, shall we? To the club!!
Nibbles and Sips
In the last week, I’ve made a few decisions of which I’m quite proud: I’ve rekindled my yoga practice, I’ve started meditating, and I bought a giant bottle of gin the last time I went out for groceries. I believe one way to get through this weird time is to indulge in simple pleasures. For me that includes exhaustively preparing tea lattes; cooking up a storm while I dance around my kitchen; taking time to stretch my body, and crafting delicious cocktails.
My go-to cocktail was introduced to me as a Bohemian several years ago at a lovely establishment called Drink in Boston, but not everyone seems to know it by that name (as I’ve learned from the blank faces of many a bartender). It’s a refreshing, lightly floral blend of pink grapefruit juice, elderflower liqueur, and gin. Use this recipe as a guide, though I skip the bitters.
All I Wanna Do is Zoom-a-zoom-zoom-zoom and a Boom Boom (Just Read Your Book!)
Bonus points to you if you caught that reference.
If you didn’t know what Zoom was before COVID-19 sent us all home, you probably do now! Whether for work meetings, family check-ins, or virtual happy hours with friends, many of us have been spending a lot of time on the platform.
I already mentioned using video chats to hold virtual book clubs; but what if reading is hard right now? Some days I’ve found solace in long, languid reading sessions and other days my mind has wandered too much to get through a single page. If you’re in that latter head space, consider using book club chats as a time to share inspirational poetry, short stories, or hopeful passages from books, then discussing their meaning and message with the group. Here are a couple of poetry collections I like, but I’ll keep it brief. You should pick whatever speaks most to you here.
- Mary Oliver. Just all the Mary Oliver – This is probably a predictable choice, but honestly Mary was just That Poet. Her work was what got me into poetry; it’s accessible but poignant, simple but profound in its observations of nature and the human experience. I come back to this couplet often from her poem A Summer Day, originally published in House of Light (1992)
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
- The Carrying by Ada Limon – This collection had me tearing over over a plate of curry in a crowded restaurant last year. Ada Limon shares observations, frustrations, and big, complex feelings on everything from her experience tending to aging parents to her struggles with infertility. She writes with such fierceness and vulnerability, and I think we have to allow space for these kinds of emotions right now.
Suggestion Section
Entertainment Weekly staffers are sharing how their reading habits are changing and growing in the Coronavirus era in EW’s Quarantine Book Club.
Oona out of Order is GMA’s April book club pick.
There are a LOT of Corona Book Club and Quarantine Book Clubs popping up on the internet, like this one from Vice. I also just stumbled on this whole site dedicated to quarantine book club where authors hop on zoom to discuss their books. This Friday, Mikki Kendall will talk abbot her recent release Hood Feminism. I’m there!
Today.com on how baking and book clubs are the move for dealing with this stress stuff.
Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with your burning book club questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter, get it on the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Tuesday and Friday too.
Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa
More Resources:
– Our Book Group In A Box guide
– List your group on the Book Group Resources page