Book clubs are one of my favourite things- I love having a group of people who all start with the same book and all end with very different opinions! When I started the #anhistorianreads book club in July, I wasn’t sure if anyone would even join it. However, I shouldn’t have worried at all, because I have an amazing group of readers who have come together from all walks of life to chat about our thoughts, experiences, and opinions of the book. We are now onto the second round of book club and have a new book to announce…
If you aren’t already a member of the #AnHistorianReads book club, please come and join our group on Facebook! We read a new book each quarter, alternating between fiction and non-fiction, and there is usually 4-5 weeks to read the book before discussion (to allow for what I’m sure are very busy lives!). I believe that reading is important to all of us, and is a wonderful way to stretch your minds, consider things from a new viewpoint, and just escape for a little bit. Everyone in the club is fantastically nice and from quite a range of backgrounds, so we have a great variety in our chats! The book club is done entirely through the Facebook group, and you can answer and respond to threads when you can- I hope to see you there.
I like the book club to be by and for all of the members, so members can suggest books for the next round and then we all vote on them! For this round, we are reading non-fiction, and the winning selection is…
#AnHistorianReads Book Club, Sept-Nov 2018 Selection
My Life in France by Julia Child! We will be reading Julia’s autobiography, and how she brought French cuisine and cooking to mainstream America! I think that a lot of us 40 and under didn’t grow up with Julia (I know that there are some people who will protest and say that their parents always had it on, but she wasn’t a common household name by the time we were children), so it’s a good learning opportunity. We also have members from several different generations, so I’m excited to hear from those who may have grown up knowing much more of Julia!
From Goodreads:
Although she would later singlehandedly create a new approach to American cuisine with her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her television show The French Chef, Julia Child was not always a master chef. Indeed, when she first arrived in France in 1948 with her husband, Paul, who was to work for the USIS, she spoke no French and knew nothing about the country itself. But as she dove into French culture, buying food at local markets and taking classes at the Cordon Bleu, her life changed forever with her newfound passion for cooking and teaching. Julia’s unforgettable story–struggles with the head of the Cordon Bleu, rejections from publishers to whom she sent her now-famous cookbook, a wonderful, nearly fifty-year long marriage that took the Childs across the globe–unfolds with the spirit so key to Julia’s success as a chef and a writer, brilliantly capturing one of America’s most endearing personalities.
What are you reading right now?
Cheers,
The Historian
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must have been off the ball because I haven’t joined the book club yet! This book has been on my list for a long time. I better start reading.
No worries at all, we are always happy to have new people join!! I’m excited to hear your thoughts 🙂
This sounds good! I loved the movie Julie & Julia, which sounds like it took a lot from this book! Julia Child is such an inspiration — going from housewife to amazing chef to famous cookbook author! I’ll have to give this one a try one of these days since I loved the movie so much.
I will be sharing my thoughts soon, probably in a mini-review on Instagram!!
I have it on hold at the library! Excited.
I am excited as well!!
Hi Jessica, I love reading too and read multiple books at the same time. I’m off to my bookclub tonight and love catching up with all the news as well as the book discussion. This month we’ve read an autobiography by Magda Szubanski. I’ve pinned this post ?
Book clubs are the best way to meet new people, and to reconnect with older friends- I find that our book club discussions really do wander, but in the best way possible. It’s such a wonderful and cozy way to get to know people and catch up!
Yes! I read that Julia Child book. I think you’ll like it. Like you, I read multiple books at a time. This works for me best if they are different genres. I’m usually rotating among a biography (Alice Munro right now), a novel (The Overstory) and maybe some short stories (Margaret Atwood). Then, of course, I can’t resist a new hot topical book (Fear, by Bob Woodward, is the hottest and latest, tho earlier this summer it was Fire and Fury) These I usually download on my iPad for fast consumption — the others I get as real books.
I usually have very different books happening at the same time- usually some combo of history, biography, fiction, chick lit, and mystery haha! I used to be really good for reading topical books and then I just got tired of either waiting 7 months for it from the library, or paying far too much money for a book I usually won’t read again haha. So I read them far after they are topical haha!
I have three books on the go right now! Have to wrap up at least two of them and get our next book club book. Looking forward to it as enjoyed the last one.
I have a few to wrap up as well, so I might push it to the Tuesday after our Thanksgiving!