I've been thinking about starting a book club. I'm constantly looking for something productive to do with my time, and as you know, lately I've been facing some difficulty in the book-choosing department. I'd love to have someone else recommend a novel for me, and I'd even be willing to try new genres and authors.

Many of my friends are already avid readers, but we never take the time to truly discuss what we're reading or how it relates to real life situations. I think it would be interesting to get to know my friends on a more intellectual level, and similar to Scrabulous (an online version of Scrabble for you non-facebookers), it would keep my brain warm and active in a way that a gingerbread latte could not. Besides that, people tend to become reclusive during the winter months, and this would be the perfect way to ensure at least a few jovial gatherings, full of revelry, witticisms and the like. All right so I exaggerated that sentence because it's Sunday afternoon, I'm bored, it's quiet, and large words have the tendency to entertain me. But seriously.

About a year or so ago, I read Elizabeth Noble's first novel entitled The Reading Group which takes place in Ireland. She has a Maeve Binchy-esque way of delving into the characters' lives, intertwining them and making the reader care about each and every story. It all revolved around a group of local Irish women who created their own book club, and the plot was enhanced by showing their reactions to certain pieces in the novels they were reading and how it corresponded to their families, friends, and everyday lives. I'll have to find this book downstairs, because I remember in the back there were guidelines on how to create your own reading group. I've been intrigued by the idea for a while now, but I think I'm ready for the next step. Oooh we could even occasionally meet at Borders to make our group seem even more official! Okay, I'm excited now.