Confessions of a Book Club Slacker

I joined three book clubs this summer. It’s not a big deal because I read voraciously and the three clubs are very different.

The first, through the Richland County Public Library, reads book-clubbable-books. We read The Postmistress, Before I Go to Sleep, The Language of Flowers, Unbroken, State of Wonder, and The Good Daughters.  

http://www.momswhoneedwine.com/

The second group, Read Between the Wines, is just what it sounds like: an excuse to drink wine. We read Emily Giffin’s latest, little-known author Mariah Stewart’s Coming Home, and a John Grisham novel called The Litigators. We’re not reading a book in November because it’s the holidays. Yep. Easy peasy.

The third group is an online group of writers and we read writing craft books. We read On Writing by Stephen King, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, and Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, and are now reading The Right to Write. I’ve become moderator of this group and find myself more attached to the group’s success than before.

In November the Clemson English Alumni group decided to read Cloud Atlas and meet here, in Columbia, to have a discussion on the book. Book club four? Sure! I’m in.

Try Over-Committing Just Once

It was at this point that book club FAIL occurred.

I didn’t worry too much when I didn’t finish Unbroken in September, I mean, it was brutal.

I didn’t allow myself to be concerned when I didn’t finish Self Editing for Fiction Writers, because, really, it was a workbook with lots of exercises and such.

I didn’t flinch when I failed to complete The Litigators in October because none of the other girls even bothered to start it, what with school going on and Halloween costumes to sew and all that. (Aside, I am the only mom who sewed a Halloween costume)

Then I didn’t finish State of Wonder and I said it was because it put me in a State of Boredom.

Lastly, most recently, I began the 500 page Cloud Atlas four days before it was due. It remains unfinished.

The tally is RCPL – 6 books, RBTW – 3 books, Wordsmith Studio – 4 books with one in progress, Clemson English Alum – 1 book.

Or Let Over-Committing Become Habit

The Clemson English Alum is the most embarrassing. It was like showing up to class without having read the book and attempting to offer any level of insight. Fail. A professor led the discussion and there were two of us. Yep. 

Professor Brian Somebody, me and some guy who works at Michelin who seemed really teed off that I hadn’t finished the book but was talking about it anyway. (I know that look. I gave it in graduate school.)

I’d read three of the six narratives. That’s half. Half. Come on, Kasie. Get yourself together. (Pep Talk Voice) Stop watching The Voice, Revolution, Nashville, and Elementary and read for goodness sake. It’s what you do. You read. Remember?

I did manage to finish The Good Daughters while waiting in line to vote. So I guess I just need another 2 ½ hour chunk of time to waste. That’ll get me through a good book clubbable book.

Or maybe I need more book clubs that are really wine clubs.

In any event, as per my usual over commit and under deliver, I have become a book club slacker. There it is. The truth of it. It’s not pretty but it is what it is. 

And then Figure Out How to Quit Something

I am a habitual quitter. It’s symptomatic of any number of character flaws and I’m sure dates back to my mother letting me quit piano (3^rd grade), cello (4^th grade) and saxophone (5^th grade). I’m not blaming her, as a mom I know that sometimes letting the kid quit is the better decision. 

I’ve quit running, then swimming, then spin class, all once, twice, and three times. New Y. New instructor. New stage in life. New list of excuses. 

I forgot to mention I abandoned the installment of the Outlander series I was reading when we moved. My Goodreads “in progress” shelf still shows it. Ouch. Since April? Yep.

More of the books on my Goodreads shelf here.

I really have committed to and completed a good many things: graduate school, marriage, pregnancy, football season.

But maybe one’s innate nature cannot be overcome.

Maybe it’s in me to abandon the tasks I find undesirable for those I find more desirable.

Maybe I desire TV more than I used to.

Whatever the problem, I must right the ship. I’ll keep you posted on how I plan to do that.

Did you ever quit anything? Why? How did you feel about yourself afterwards?