A Letter to a Book Club Organization

 A Letter; From a Group Leader

I participate in a book discussion group that operates nationwide. I decided to send out a letter to the team; it is here below, but I have removed book titles used by the group because the book lists are supposed to be protected. I've also removed the group's name for the same reason.

Dear Team at [Book Club],

Let me start out with a big "thank you." When I heard women talk about how wonderful their Book Club groups were because of the connections it gave them to other women, I thought that this group could be a good experience. I love books and relish making strong connections, so why not start a group with a dear galpal of mine to discuss great books? We promptly had three other women join us in February of 2024, and I can testify to how much this group has meant to us - and in particular to those women who have children. Getting out of the house, sharing a meal, and talking books is something we all look forward to every month!

However, I have noticed something coming up in some of our more recent conversations. We love the company, we love the food, we love the discussion - we just don't often love the book. There are usually at least a few who appreciate or really do relish the Book Club pick of the month, but others of us might have trouble finishing for various reasons. Sometimes, it could just be a difference in taste or the other usual reasons we don't quite get around to finishing a book, like being busy or not getting it started in time. But other times, it seems to be because some content hits hard when you're newly married or the mother of small children (see the loss of a spouse in *****, or the stillbirth scene in *****). Or, perhaps we do finish it. We just don't enjoy this novel that we've invested a lot of time into reading.

What I would like to ask would be a consideration of incorporating more children's classics and light-filled reads in the yearly books lists. Now, I am not asking that you decrease the level of quality of literature that is selected for Book Club. It is clear that Book Club values introducing women to classic texts of high cultural and intellectual value, and I agree with this aspiration. I know it is good for me to be pushed outside of my comfort zone when I read, and this group is pushing me to try out some of those books on my "to-read" list that I haven't picked up because of some reservation I've had. It's good to grapple with hard things sometimes in the books we read, especially because we have other women to talk with about them. However, I think it is important to have a good balance of difficult things to grapple with as well as beautiful things, enchanting and wholesome things - which can be found in children's classics and light-filled reads.

By "light-filled reads", I'm referring to those that are not just lighthearted and adventurous, but works that carry a perspective of the world that is, overall, a perspective of hope, joy, and wonder. These works do not leave the reader feeling depressed about the state of the world, or shock by the sinfulness of most of the characters. There is a time and a place for those works, but must it be most of the time? I'm looking at the books that have been on the docket this last year since my group formed: ***** , etc., *****. Of these, the only ones that I found to not lean hard into violence, depravity, a dark outlook, or very difficult-to-read topics were ***** (and that one is borderline), ***** (not well-liked in my group), and *****. Perhaps it is just the timing of when my group formed, but I feel like we haven't encountered many classic works so far that have drawn us in with their beauty and light. 

Could there be more room for works by Jane Austen? Might we accompany G. K. Chesterton on an adventurous romp that ends in a wild and surreal climax? Could we ponder with Prudencia in The Awakening of Miss Prim as she finds her preconceptions challenged by the countercultural lifestyle she witnesses? Might we receive inspiration more often from the writings of saints, or biographies about them? These works, though of a lighter feel, can still tackle "the big questions" like what it means to live virtuously, seeing the world as a work of God's creation, and finding our place as a creature in God's world.

Also well worth considering are classic children's works. I know that WRM has features some of these in the past, including *****, *****, and I think *****. These are all excellent works, and I'm especially sad that I missed the last one listed! I would encourage incorporating more of these works - not just into the family supplement, but into what the women are reading. In her book Before Austen Comes Aesop, Cheri Blomquist posits that children of our time do not read enough of the children's classics, which means that they are simply not ready for the adult classics by the time that they are required to read them in high school. I wonder if some children's works could open the way to some of these more difficult novels even for full-grown adults. Also, imagine what fun it could be if the whole family read the Book Club selection one month!

Each year, the Newbery Award is given to an American children's book published that year that is noteworthy in some way (the Carnegie Medal is the British equivalent). Not all these books would fit the WRM standard, but they might merit consideration. WRM need not fear that incorporating more children's books will automatically lower the standard of quality literature being read by the groups - as C. S. Lewis wrote, "No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty" (Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories). I'm not saying the next work chosen needs to be Bridge to Terabithia, but many works wrestle with hard issues and are just as carefully crafted as those penned for adults.

Several years ago, Word on Fire published a book entitled With All Her Mind: A Call to the Intellectual Life. In this collection of essays, Haley Stewart makes an analogy comparing the process of making a book selection to eating a balanced diet: "We should read books that make our hearts dance as well as ones that we know are 'good for us.'" (p. 52, "Becoming a Bibliophile"). I think that this is true. If the only book a busy mom reads in a month is on the Well Read Moms list, I would like to think that there is a healthy dose of books included to make her heart dance.

Thank you for the time you took to read this letter. I know you put a lot of thought and effort into which books are selected every year, and our group appreciates the work you do. Please consider this letter a sign that we like what you are doing, with the hope that we can love it even more in the future.

An appreciative group leader,

Jessica Gouvion

 name for the same reason.

Dear Team at [Book Club],

Let me start out with a big "thank you." When I heard women talk about how wonderful their WRM groups were because of the connections it gave them to other women, I thought that this group could be a good experience. I love books and relish making strong connections, so why not start a group with a dear galpal of mine to discuss great books? We promptly had three other women join us in February of 2024, and I can testify to how much this group has meant to us - and in particular to those women who have children. Getting out of the house, sharing a meal, and talking books is something we all look forward to every month!

However, I have noticed something coming up in some of our more recent conversations. We love the company, we love the food, we love the discussion - we just don't often love the book. There are usually at least a few who appreciate or really do relish the WRM pick of the month, but others of us might have trouble finishing for various reasons. Sometimes, it could just be a difference in taste or the other usual reasons we don't quite get around to finishing a book, like being busy or not getting it started in time. But other times, it seems to be because some content hits hard when you're newly married or the mother of small children (see the loss of a spouse in A Severe Mercy, or the stillbirth scene in Peace Like a River). Or, perhaps we do finish it. We just don't enjoy this novel that we've invested a lot of time into reading.

What I would like to ask would be a consideration of incorporating more children's classics and light-filled reads in the yearly books lists. Now, I am not asking that you decrease the level of quality of literature that is selected for WRM. It is clear that WRM values introducing women to classic texts of high cultural and intellectual value, and I agree with this aspiration. I know it is good for me to be pushed outside of my comfort zone when I read, and this group is pushing me to try out some of those books on my "to-read" list that I haven't picked up because of some reservation I've had. It's good to grapple with hard things sometimes in the books we read, especially because we have other women to talk with about them. However, I think it is important to have a good balance of difficult things to grapple with as well as beautiful things, enchanting and wholesome things - which can be found in children's classics and light-filled reads.

By "light-filled reads", I'm referring to those that are not just lighthearted and adventurous, but works that carry a perspective of the world that is, overall, a perspective of hope, joy, and wonder. These works do not leave the reader feeling depressed about the state of the world, or shock by the sinfulness of most of the characters. There is a time and a place for those works, but must it be most of the time? I'm looking at the books that have been on the docket this last year since my group formed: True Grit, A Severe Mercy, Brideshead Revisited, The Ghost Keeper, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Peace Like a River, Aeneid, My God and My All, The Pearl, and The Father's Tale. Of these, the only ones that I found to not lean hard into violence, depravity, a dark outlook, or very difficult-to-read topics were True Grit (and that one is borderline), Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (not well-liked in my group), and My God and My All. Perhaps it is just the timing of when my group formed, but I feel like we haven't encountered many classic works so far that have drawn us in with their beauty and light. 

Could there be more room for works by Jane Austen? Might we accompany G. K. Chesterton on an adventurous romp that ends in a wild and surreal climax? Could we ponder with Prudencia in The Awakening of Miss Prim as she finds her preconceptions challenged by the countercultural lifestyle she witnesses? Might we receive inspiration more often from the writings of saints, or biographies about them? These works, though of a lighter feel, can still tackle "the big questions" like what it means to live virtuously, seeing the world as a work of God's creation, and finding our place as a creature in God's world.

Also well worth considering are classic children's works. I know that WRM has features some of these in the past, including Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, and I think The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. These are all excellent works, and I'm especially sad that I missed the last one listed! I would encourage incorporating more of these works - not just into the family supplement, but into what the women are reading. In her book Before Austen Comes Aesop, Cheri Blomquist posits that children of our time do not read enough of the children's classics, which means that they are simply not ready for the adult classics by the time that they are required to read them in high school. I wonder if some children's works could open the way to some of these more difficult novels even for full-grown adults. Also, imagine what fun it could be if the whole family read the WRM selection one month!

Each year, the Newbery Award is given to an American children's book published that year that is noteworthy in some way (the Carnegie Medal is the British equivalent). Not all these books would fit the WRM standard, but they might merit consideration. WRM need not fear that incorporating more children's books will automatically lower the standard of quality literature being read by the groups - as C. S. Lewis wrote, "No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty" (Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories). I'm not saying the next work chosen needs to be Bridge to Terabithia, but many works wrestle with hard issues and are just as carefully crafted as those penned for adults.

Several years ago, Word on Fire published a book entitled With All Her Mind: A Call to the Intellectual Life. In this collection of essays, Haley Stewart makes an analogy comparing the process of making a book selection to eating a balanced diet: "We should read books that make our hearts dance as well as ones that we know are 'good for us.'" (p. 52, "Becoming a Bibliophile"). I think that this is true. If the only book a busy mom reads in a month is on the Well Read Moms list, I would like to think that there is a healthy dose of books included to make her heart dance.

Thank you for the time you took to read this letter. I know you put a lot of thought and effort into which books are selected every year, and our group appreciates the work you do. Please consider this letter a sign that we like what you are doing, with the hope that we can love it even more in the future.

An appreciative group leader,

Jessica Gouvion