This book club tastes what they read
Once a month Brian and Beverly Anderson, a Spokane couple in their early fifties, host what could be called dinner and a book.
It’s a book club with a twist, an edible twist.
At each month’s gathering the Andersons plan and serve an evening meal, the theme of which is dictated by the book the group is reading.
July’s book of the month – “The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics” by Daniel James Brown – is a nonfiction book about the University of Washington rowing crew which, against the odds, narrowly beat Italy and Germany to win the gold medal in Berlin in the 1936 Olympics.
The evening’s menu included German potato salad, grilled bratwurst with German mustard, homemade buns and German chocolate cupcakes decorated with tiny American flags, as well as a German apple strudel.
The roster of the as-yet-unnamed book club currently is about 15 book lovers, said Brian Anderson, who started the group over two years ago.
“We usually have about 10 to 12 people here on any given month,” Anderson said.
His and his wife’s love of reading was their motivation to start the club, which in the beginning consisted of several co-workers from Brian’s job at Spokane International Airport’s Transportation Security Administration.
“It started with people at work and then people told people they know, who told somebody else,” he said. “It’s basically been word of mouth.”
“We’re centrally located, and we have a huge house so that’s why we do it here,” he added. “We provide the meal, and people bring other stuff. That way we always have a menu, and we order the wine to go with dinner. We’re very social.”
Guests meandered into the Andersons’ Craftsman-style home on the lower South Hill as the couple finished setting the dining room table buffet style. The night was warm and humid, the mood was casual, and it was clear everyone was well-acquainted. Happy chatter filled the house as people caught up on one another’s busy lives.
Wine glasses were filled, comments and compliments to the chefs flowed, and everyone filled dinner plates to take out to the Andersons’ expansive front porch.
The conversation turned to some of the book titles the group already has read including: “The Swans of Fifth Avenue” by Melanie Benjamin, “Montana 1948” by Larry Watson and “ Go to Set a Watchman” by Harper Lee.
“ ‘Go to Set a Watchman’ tried us,” said Tracy White, one of several teachers in the group. “We questioned what perspective she wrote it from. We had to read it as a different story from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ ”
White, who belongs to another book club made up of all English teachers, said honesty is one of the things she likes about the group. “If we don’t like it we can say we don’t like it.”
That comment prompted someone to mention “From Here to Eternity” by James Jones, which brought groans and then laughter from the group because of its 800-plus pages. Everyone agreed they wanted to read it because it sounded romantic but, “it was the least romantic book we’ve ever read.”
“The power of a book club is that it introduces you to books you would never read normally, that’s the fascination,” said Ray Emerson, a longtime member and local author. “You think man, this book is 866 pages. I can never get through this. But being in the book club makes you read it.”
Emerson, who authored the 2014 book “Sell Your House and Buy a Sailboat: Then Sail Halfway Around the World,” said he never would have thought to read some of the club’s titles.
“Like the book ‘Wild,’ ” he said. “I never would have picked it up and read it and I enjoyed it.”
Brian Anderson agreed.
“Because of the book club, I read stuff that would be out of my range like history and biography,” he said. “What I really like are the discussions … different opinions and different views are interesting.”