A BOOK GROUP ON HIATUS

Not every book group is a success, and while often it’s worth waiting to build an audience and nurture the group, sometimes you have to cut your losses and try something else later.  This is particularly hard for me personally; not only am I crazy about the fun of reading and discussing books (you can tell, can’t you?), but I am also very stubborn and persistent and basically unwilling to give up on anything if there’s a possibility it might work.

That said, after a number of months of the It’s Not Rom-Complicated Book Group, when we never had more than three people, I decided, reluctantly, to pull the plug, at least until the spring.

I’ll have plenty of time to think about what happened, or, more properly, what didn’t happen.  Possibly the low attendance was because of the time when we had the group (Tuesday nights).  Possibly it was because I didn’t provide refreshments (don’t laugh;at two of my other book groups, which are quite large, I provide doughnuts and coffee, and I am quite sure that’s a draw).  It’s possible I didn’t publicize it enough, though I did push the group to anyone who showed any interest in romantic comedies at all.

And finally, maybe there just isn’t that big an audience for a book group devoted to Rom Coms.  I’m willing to admit that my taste isn’t everybody’s (if you’ve been following this blog, you KNOW that already), and if it turns out there aren’t that many people who want to read this genre together and talk about it, well, that’s the way the ball bounces.

And the fact that I’m running three other book groups might have had something to do with my willingness to back down on this one. Reading four books a month isn’t necessarily a problem for me (I’m a fast reader, thank heavens), but sometimes the books for other groups are more involved and longer, and it’s nice to have a little more time to be able to finish them all in time (there have been times, after all, when I have been reading a hundred pages or more in a day to finish before the book group meeting).

But remember I said I’m stubborn: I’m not giving up on romantic comedies altogether. I’ll give us another chance in the spring, possibly with a different date and time, and see if we can build something together then.

INTERFERING GRANDFATHERS AND TRUE LOVE: IT’S NOT ROM-COMPLICATED

We had a fun discussion of our August selection at the It’s Not Rom-Complicated Book Group meeting.  Of course, that was fairly easy because the book in question was such a good one – The Flatshare had characters who were lovable and believable, supporting characters who felt real and vivid while they were causing or interfering with the main plot, and some great funny scenes, not to mention a few that had me, at least, sniffling a bit, and a happy ever after that was worth the wait.

With a smaller group, it’s sometimes harder to choose a book because there are so few people voting that you can easily end up with a couple of ties with a vote or two each.  Fortunately we were able to come to an agreement for our September book: A Proposal They Can’t Refuse, by Natalie Cana.  Copies are already available at the Circulation Desk.

I haven’t read the book – yet – but I did peek in and devoured the first chapter, and I have to say it starts out very promisingly.  Our female protagonist, Kamilah, is late on her way to work at her family’s restaurant because she’s been called to the senior living center to deal with the latest chaos her abuelo and his best friend have been causing there.  It’s clear that this is not the first time these two have gotten into trouble (this time it’s because they put caffeinated coffee in the residents’ decaf pot, but there are references to other mischief they’ve caused in the recent past), and it’s also clear that these two grandfathers are having a wonderful time together and have no regrets whatsoever about their behavior even if it gets their grandchildren in trouble.  Liam, the grandson of the other troublemaker, appears on the scene and Kamilah “accidentally” punches him in the groin (she did mean to punch the person, she didn’t realize it was Liam).  We have already established, in a few pages, the characters of the two grandfathers and Kamilah and Liam, and they’re all great fun to be around.

The plot of the book is that both Kamilah and Liam want something: Kamilah wants to expand her family’s Puerto Rican restaurant, and Liam wants to take his family’s whisky distillery to the next level.  However, their wily grandfathers refuse to help them unless Kamilah and Liam marry each other.  If the grandchildren don’t, the grandfathers threaten to sell the building in which the two enterprises take place.  Naturally, Kamilah and Liam want nothing to do with this marriage scheme and they’re both prickly about being blackmailed into it, so they decide to go ahead and pretend they’re going to get married, and fool the grandfathers into giving them what they want.  Obviously things will go wrong with this fake marriage scheme, and it may well be that the wily grandfathers know more about the two of them than they know about themselves.

What’s not to like?  Lively characters, a fun setup, interfering grandparents, a fake marriage and enemies to lovers, all leading (of course) to a happy ending – sign me up.  If it sounds good to you, come and join us.  Our next meeting is after Labor Day and that gives plenty of time to read a quick, entertaining book like this one.  Hope to see you there!

ANOTHER REASON TO COME TO THE ROM COM BOOK GROUP NEXT WEEK

The newest Field Library book group, It’s Not Rom-Complicated, is having its meeting next Tuesday, August 8, at 7 p.m., and I would love to have lots of people come and join us.

The book we are discussing this month is The Flatshare, by Beth O’Leary, and it is my favorite of all the books we’ve read so far (all right, that’s only three, but still).  It is incredibly sweet and good hearted as well as being very funny and touching (there was one scene that made me cry, and it wasn’t between the two protagonists, either).  It is a fast read (all the rom coms we’ve been reading are fast reads: between the humorous situations, the funny, flirty banter and the pleasure of anticipating the happy ever after, I find myself whipping through them, devouring them like popcorn or potato chips or – well, you get the idea), it’s got great characters you care about, it’s got some wonderful scenes and subplots, and it’s just a lot of fun.

If you’re holding back from checking us out because you’re afraid that we’ll be “analyzing” the books the way you analyzed books in high school English classes, you obviously have never been in one of my book groups, and especially not in this one.  We do not spend time exploring the details of the imagery or symbolism.  Mostly we chortle together about our favorite scenes (reading certain really good parts aloud), and discuss whether a particular character should have abased himself more (in the last book; nobody needs to abase themselves in this one).  About as “English class” as we get is discussing how this particular book relates to others of its type, or others by this author, and even that is more a matter of sharing the good stuff than being critical in any way.

I’m not begging for people to come to the group just to boost my program statistics (though that would be nice, I’m not going to lie).  I’m begging for people to come to the group so I have more people to share this wonderful book with.  Copies are still available at the library, and you can absolutely read this one in less than a week (and you’ll want to).  Come and have some fun, and help us decide what fun book we’ll be reading next month.

NEXT ROM COM BOOK CLUB SELECTION: THE UNHONEYMOONERS

It’s been so long since I started a new book group that I’d forgotten how small a book group can be at the very beginning, and that book groups grow over time.  Our first meeting of the It’s Not Rom-Complicated Book Group had a grand total of two attendees (other than myself, of course), but we still had a great time together, discussing Secretly Yours, our first selection, and choosing our book for July.  I hope we’ll get more people to join us for our July meeting, on  July 11 at 7 p.m., and I think our book choice should be a lot of fun for both aficionados of romantic comedies and people who are just looking for a fun read.

The Unhoneymooners, by Christina Lauren, features the “unlucky” twin, Olive.  Her twin, Ami, does everything right and always wins, making Olive, with her unfortunate mishaps and her recent job layoff, feel as if she’s the perpetual loser.  Ami is about to get married, with Olive as her maid of honor.  Aside from the humiliating contrast between herself and her sparkling sister, Olive isn’t looking forward to the festivities because the best man, Ethan Thomas, is her nemesis, but, as maid of honor and best man, they’re going to have to spend time together.

Actually, they’re going to spend more time together than they anticipated, because the entire wedding party comes down with food poisoning, EXCEPT Olive and Ethan.  There’s a honeymoon cruise to Hawaii which is nonrefundable, and so Olive and Ethan take advantage of the opportunity.  Of course, this means they have to pretend to be newlyweds (this is a honeymoon, after all), but they think they should be able to manage that for ten days.  Naturally, one thing leads to another, and those mortal enemies start to discover a different set of feelings for each other.

For those who are keeping track, this is two tropes in romantic comedies: enemies to lovers and fake marriage.

Copies of the book are available at the Circulation Desk.  Come in, pick up a copy, read it and laugh, and then come to join us for what should be a fun, lighthearted discussion.