Thirty One Years of Books

Last night was my book club annual dinner at a local restaurant where we celebrated 31 years together and having read many extraordinary books.  Our waitress kindly took this picture of us.  Only one member was missing due to a family illness.  

I marvel at what we have been through over these many years.  We started when our kids were all in elementary school.  Now all those children have given us grandchildren.  We have been through many experiences together: academic and sports achievements, graduations, weddings, births, deaths, retirement and illness, and still we read on. 

We meet almost monthly but often take a month or two off in the summer. Until Covid we rotated meeting in each others homes.  Refreshments are kept to a minimum, and the only real "rule" that we have is that before we choose a book, someone has to have already read it and can attest to its value as a book club choice.  As a result, we had some wonderful discussions and rarely has there been a book that no one liked. 

During Covid we met via Zoom, and now we have resumed meeting in person again.  And, we have kept a list of every book we have read.