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Books and Boobs


A month or so ago, during a euphoric state that came after having a couple of hours to myself at my favorite cafe and bookstore,  I suggested starting a mom and tot book club to a group of my fellow mom buddies.  They liked the idea.  We picked a book and decided to meet on November 30th.

We picked Esther's German Bakery as our meeting venue, since they have a kids' corner with toys that we thought would keep the kids occupied while the moms could sit at a table, sip tea and talk books.

It all sounded idyllic and quite civilized. 

Right away, I fell in love with the book we had chosen, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, as did my fellow book club mates, judging by the emails they sent as they got started on the book.  

The book is a series of charming letters which tell a story of devastation and loss on the Channel Islands during World War II, and also love, courtship, friendship and repairment of souls and lives following the War.

The book is short and easy to read.  And the letters are so charming that you want to take your time and savor each one.  At times I found myself reading out loud as though to taste the words.  And so with all this dilly dallying, this morning I still had half the book to finish before our 4:00 pm meeting.  

But finish I did. I even scribbled some notes on discussion points for our meeting.  And there was even time for a moment of feeling ridiculously satisfied at all that I was able to accomplish...

By 4:00 pm eight moms with one to two kids each, gathered at Esther's.  A great turnout I thought! 

And from then on its a blurr... All I recall from the meeting is hearing my child's voice alternating over and over again between "You come and play with me Mommy" and "Let's go home".  I am not sure what the other children were doing.  But I am pretty sure I didn't hear a discussion on the book going on around me either.

As my girl and I got ready to leave the book club meeting that never was, the moms started talking  about what our next book should be.  And what we should call our book club. A mommy who was breastfeeding suggested "Books and Boobs".  We all laughed. 

And then I thought of a favorite passage I had tagged in the book:

 "Is it so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun,
to have lived light in the spring, 
to have loved, 
to have thought, 
to have done, 
to have advanced true friends?
It isn't.  I hope."

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
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