A Book Party Experiment

First up, its go Texan Day at work. We..err..half the office is decked out in our Rodeo gear, see Lindsey in the middle below, and tonight we are heading out to the Chili Cook to kick-off the rodeo! I get to bust out my boots, see my pops, and hang with our peeps as we cruise from tent to tent.  (Excuse this gross Iphone pic)

Second up.

Book party was a huge success. I was super nervous to have ‘a party' for the first time and I’m glad I took the plunge. Hosting isn't my forte, so I'm glad to get some practice.

Our first book was No Easy Day, the Navy Seal account of capturing Osama Bin Laden.

We didn’t have any our rules in place yet, actually I had no idea what I was agreeing to, I just said I'd host since I don't live far from work.  We voted on the book this time, and I didn’t even think to decorate until the night before. After a quick trip to Target a red, white and blue theme was born, inspired by the miliary nature of the book. I definitely stayed up til 1 am the night before.. but hey it was all worth it!

 

I also put a sign on our door with a quote from the book.

 

What was great about this book, is we all shared where we were when 9/11 happened, and how we heard the news that Bin Laden had been captured. It was so interesting to see generational gaps. Where I work is actually the world trade center for Houston, so you can imagine what an interesting day at the office it was for my boss. Another coworker worked in LA at the time and thought the LAX airport was next. We all had SUCH different experiences that played into how we read this book. And we talked about the secretive nature of the current war, and the recent fascination with the CIA’s involvement, sparking TV shows and Movies such as Homeland and Zero Dark Thirty. I was pleasantly suprised about how much we had to say! We were worried it'd be crickets when it was time to talk, but we had no problems there. We also set a bunch of rules about how to run the club and you can read them below. 

If you are toying with the idea of starting a book club, we established some common rules last night!

 

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 It was a really cool experience. So how does one start a book club, and what does one do? I still don’t quite know, but our book club consultants , Pooja & Juawana  gave us the skinny on how to have a successful Book club. Obviously I am no expert, but this is here are the rules we agreed upon last night:

-         First, remember this is supposed to be fun! It’s really an excuse to get together and have food and wine IMHO.

-         Whoever hosts the book club picks the book, the location and general theme and food. It doesn’t have to be a house, the point is to be creative and get people in the mood to talk about the book! If you are reading a book about India, maybe go to an Indian restaurant. The point of them picking is to expand your horizons. Be creative!

-         We all pay 10 dollars a piece, and the host uses those funds for food and alcohol how they see fit

-         You have to read at least a portion of the book. Don’t be the book natzi, you can still share if you’ve read sections, but if you've read none of it...ya...

-         Pick the next book within 24 hours of the book party, because if not your club may not fizzle out due to indeciveness