Originally long-distance friends, Ashley and Jeannie bonded over Steinbeck's East of Eden. Five years ago, when Ashley returned to New York, Jeanne thought they should try a bookclub. So, they each invited friends and their mutual friend Lori hosted the first meeting. Since then, the group has changed, evolved, and grown, but many of the original members are still part of it.

How many members do you have?
We have 10 members and we try to keep the group no more than 11. We feel that having a limit to this number is important for keeping the group active and manageable for hosting. We started out with a small group of old friends connected through Rochester's legal community and grew from there as members brought their friends who were most interested in joining a bookclub.

How often do you meet?
We meet on the second Tuesday of each month, ALWAYS! Because it started with Ashley, the group informally began calling itself "Tuesdays with Ashley.”

How do you keep the bookclub going despite your busy schedules?
Our bookclub members truly love to read and we believe that reading should be a priority. The bookclub, in a strange way, gives us permission to find the time to read and that becomes even more important through the years as our families grow and our careers develop. For most of us, it's a commitment we make to ourselves that allows us to escape from our busy careers and family life. We all feel enriched after our discussions and it keeps us coming back each month; we always say we have a better appreciation for the books after we discuss together.

Our bookclub has been a great support network for all of us as we live and grow as women, mothers, wives, as well as in our careers and community. It's important that we know what's going on in all of our lives so we can support each other, but also so we can understand that our life experiences will shape how we receive, interpret and experience the books that we read.
We rotate hosting at our homes and make a complete dinner each month for the group. We made a firm decision about what day the bookclub meets. Everyone knows that well in advance and can plan their work and personal lives (and vacations!) accordingly, including spouses.

What are you currently reading?
We are currently reading A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris for our annual Mother-daughter bookclub that we conduct in May with our moms. Each year a different member's mom chooses the book for our discussion that usually includes some kind of mother-daughter relationship, or familial theme.

Favorite past book selections:
We try to read a variety of genres but we always make sure we are reading from the classic canon – books that we've always felt like we should read, but would not normally pick out in a bookstore or books that we thought we might have had a hard time dedicating the time to without the bookclub arena to complete it in. Most members feel that the books we get the most enjoyment and satisfaction from are the "modern classics."
Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
Silas Marner, by George Elliot
My Antonia, by Willa Cather
The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood
The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
A Million Little Pieces, James Frye.

Advice to women forming new discussion groups/book clubs:
We set rules about babies/children attending early on. We had some discussions about this and made the decision that, as women, it was important that we made time for ourselves away from our kids and that we should honor that by not bringing our children to bookclub.

We read books from different cultures and historical time periods, which broadens our depth of knowledge about the world, its people, and consequently ourselves. We continue to discover that the human experience has universal truths that transcend time, culture, race, religion, gender, and economics. The best discussions were generated from those books about which some of us have formulated very strong opinions.

 

Interested in having your book club featured in Rochester Woman Reads? Contact Jillian Melnyk at Jill@RochesterWomanMag.com