Book Club!

Holy crap, that was an intense read. Especially as a new mom to a baby son. In some ways, I could relate to Eva — the fear that she’d made a “mistake,” for example, was a fear that was very real to me in the early days of Jackson’s life when he screamed at piercing tones around the clock for about two or three weeks straight. Even admitting that here — that a part of me worried I’d made a mistake that would cost me not just myself but my husband, too — I can relate to Eva’s shame and worry at being seen as a bad mother. What kind of mother…

This month we chose “The Marriage Plot” for our inaugural Dear Wendy book club selection. While I waited for the book to arrive from Amazon, I spent the first week of the month reading another book, “Under the Banner of Heaven,” which, after giving it 120 pages, I just could not get into (sorry, Addie Pray!). It was a relief to switch gears with Pulitzer Prize winner, Jeffrey Eugenides’, “The Marriage Plot,” a book that explores the transition from college to young adulthood through the lives of three intertwined young 20-somethings whose graduation from an Ivy League school in the early 80s sends them on three distinct paths of self-discovery. At the…

OK, over-achievers, are any of you already finished reading The Marriage Plot yet? Halfway through? Haven’t even started? Don’t worry, it’s not too late to buy the book and join us. My copy just arrived yesterday and I’m hoping I can knock off at least 100 pages this weekend, but we’ll see; Jackson may have other plans… If you want to check in with others who have started reading, feel free to discuss in the comments (please no giving away the ending though! And if you haven’t started reading or you aren’t very far along, you might want to skip this comment thread). We’ll have a more formal discussion of the book…

In a very narrow margin (93 to 87 at the time of writing this) The Marriage Plot beat out We Need to talk About Kevin for our inaugural book club selection. If you’d like, you can order your copy of The Marriage Plot here (or just click the image at your left). And since the margin was so small, I thought we could make We Need to talk About Kevin our February book club selection, which gives you a little extra time to get a copy. And if your pick wasn’t chosen this time, don’t worry; we’ll have another vote in February for the March selection. Happy reading, everyone!!