I'm in a book club [1], and every month I look forward to getting together with my friends to drink a copious amount of wine, catch up on our lives, and discuss (however briefly) the book we were supposed to read. For us, it's a slightly more intellectually stimulating gathering than the average happy hour, and I think we do a pretty good job at reading and discussing the books. Plus, it's a great way to challenge yourself to not only read at least one book a month, but read outside of your genre comfort zone. If it wasn't for book club, I probably never would have read Elizabeth Gilbert's novel The Signature of All Things [2], which is now one of my all-time favorite books. That said, it really comes down to the relationships, and we all have a part to play — for better or worse. Here are the types of women you'll inevitably meet in a book club. Which one are you?
The Pusher Who Wants Everyone to Read the Book
The One Who Comes For the Wine
The One Who Never Finishes the Book
No spoilers!
The One Who Comes For the Free Dinner
The One With Really Strong Opinions
Wrong.
The One Who Always Suggests the Worst Books
The One Who Never Comes
The Overachiever Who Reads the Book Every Time
The Emotional One
Who cries just talking about the book.
The One Who Thinks They're an English Professor
Any questions?
The One Who Just Loves to Be the Hostess
And she always has a themed food and drink spread (costumes optional).
The One Who Always Has a Scheduling Conflict
The Married One and/or Mom Who's Excited For Her Big Night Out
The One Who Never Reads the Book
The One Who Gets Really Defensive About Her Opinions
The Cat Lady
"That's a type?" Said the cat lady in my book club.
The One Who Just Comes to Socialize
The New Girl Who Didn't Know She Was Supposed to Read a Book
The Subtle Suggester
It doesn't have to be the next book . . .
The One Who's Just Really Happy to Be There
The One Who Comes Once and Is Never Seen Again
The One Who's Always Pushing Buttons
The One Who Really Just Came to Chat About The Bachelor
The Hardcore Harry Potter Fan
Everything relates to Harry Potter [4] in some way.
The One Who Would Change Her Wedding Date to Attend
The One Who Lies About Reading the Book
The Tag-Along Mom
The One Who Brings Along Discussion Questions
The Hypercritical One
Too many commas.
The Book Club Crasher
Who comes at the end and finishes off the food and wine.
The Behind-the-Scenes Spouse Who Serves as Manservant
And wins everyone over with his charm and wine-pouring skills.