Book Club Nite

I am excited to say, a group of gals and I have started a book club. We met for the first time at the end of January, on a Thursday night. Our first book to discuss was A Thousand Splendid Suns, by the author of Kite Runner. We dipped our multi grain chips into hummus, ate white chocolate macademia nut cookies and sipped wine. Reading the book and discussing it gave us a chance to immerse ourselves in the experience of women in another place, and to share our thoughts on what we had read.

The second book we chose is, The Help. I started it on Tuesday, and stayed up too late on Friday night, to finish it. It takes you back to the 1960's in Jackson, Mississippi, to the daily life of a household maid, Aibileen, as she cares for an overlooked child of an obsessive socialite. It pointed out the paradox that while many white children were closer to their maids than their own mothers, some were required to use a separate toilet to protect the white family from "colored diseases." It allowed me the sensation of walking in someone else's shoes, and has made me watchful for the insidious ways prejudice can still become normalized in our daily lives.
Have any of you been a part of a Book Club which you enjoyed?