Chinese shoes for bound feet, The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When trying on a new pair of sneakers recently, a friend of mine complained to the sales clerk that the  shoes were rather ugly. He replied (smarmily,) “Are you looking for function or fashion?”

Both, of course!  And why not?

• Because at the click of a button, I can compare shoe prices and features from any vendor, anywhere   
• Because at the click of a button, I can buy shoes from any vendor, anywhere
• Because at the click of a button, I can chat with other shoe fans, anywhere
• Because at the click of a button, I can complain, suggest, and  question  your company directly
• Because at the click of a button, I can design my own shoes
• Because at the click of a button, I can find everything I need to know about your product or service before I set foot in the store or pick up the phone
• Because at the click of a button, if you are not providing function and fashion, I can find somebody who is

I expect function and “fashion” from every product and every experience.

Here are a few of my expectations.  How about you?

• Sexy and comfortable
• Available and on time
• Yummy and low fat
• On site and online
• Cheap and clean
• Convenient and responsive
• Speedy and accurate
• Smart and friendly
• Creative and analytical
• Caring and efficient

But before you contact all your bookish friends, here are five tips that will guarantee that your book club gets off to a solid start.

1-Recruit Members

Aim for about 20 members initially.

Don’t worry if participants drop out after a few months. Some find that the group is too social or not social enough. Others may not enjoy the book selections. Members have babies, change jobs, or move. Release and recruit.

2-Confirm Meeting Time And Place

Most book clubs meet monthly. Many choose to combine book discussion and dining.   

My reading group, The NCN Book Club, meets once a month. We chat for 30 minutes or so and then start our hour-long book discussion promptly at 6:30 PM. Whatever time you choose, be consistent.

3-Establish A Process For Choosing Books

What to read? My mom’s book club chooses a theme for their annual selections, for example, South American writers.  

My book club doesn’t select a theme per se, but we maintain a 50/50 fiction to non-fiction ratio. We also have an informal policy of diverse locales and time periods. 

4-Select The Books In Advance

This tip alone will save you hours of time—select your books a year in advance. The advantage of this is that you don’t waste valuable meeting time talking about next month’s read.

In December,   The NCN Book Club selects 11 books for the following year. How do 20 opinionated, well-read women agree on 11 books? We haven’t perfected the process yet, but I’ll let you know when we do! Despite our lack of formal procedures, we make great choices every year.

5-Assign A Moderator For Each Meeting

Just like a good teacher, the moderator keeps the discussion on track and ensures that everyone has a chance to participate. 

Sometimes we don’t have a designated leader (especially when the book has not been universally loved,) and those meetings inevitably turn into free-for-alls, lots of good conversation, but not necessarily about the book!  

Follow these tips and enjoy years of rewarding discussions.

Happy Reading!

Do those of you in established book clubs have any additional advice?  

If you are looking for a hard-boiled mystery, Believing the Lie isn’t it. The “mystery” is completely secondary to George’s exploration of families and other dysfunctional human alliances.    A page turner but not in a Lee Child kind of way.

In another sign that business is picking up in our region, Centralized Showing Service, the company that schedules our showing appointments as well as those of many other companies, is hiring 100 new operators due to high call volume.    

Spring has sprung!

Cover from the first US edition

Earlier this week I attended an event at Parnassus Books,  “Let’s Talk Books” hosted by Donna Nicely. Donna’s guest, Mayor Karl Dean, spoke on the subject of his favorite books.

What’s not to like about a Mayor who recommends The Code of the Woosters (P.G. Wodehouse) and 1948: Harry Truman’s Impossible Victory (David Pietrusza)?

I was unfamiliar with another of his suggestions, The Eyre Affair, so I bought a copy. I’ll let you know if the Mayor and I agree on this one!

The Mayor’s other favorites:

Nation Maker: Sir John A. McDonald His Life, Our Times/Vol. 2 1867-1891 By Richard Gwyn

 Triumph of the City By Edward Glaeser 

The Spies of Warsaw By Alan Furst

 Great Expectations By Charles Dickens

 Jack Maggs By Peter Carey

 Barchester Towers By Anthony Trollope

 Of course, all manner of bookish folks were there. A great time to catch up with reading and readers!

 The next Parnassus event features John Seigenthaler on  May 1.  Check out the Parnassus website for more details.

See pigs fly. 

This is not Jack Reacher’s Manhattan. Most of the action in Lee Child’s Gone Tomorrow takes place in decidedly less upscale NYC locales– Penn Station, the 14^th Precinct, the subway (trains and tracks), alleyways,  and (exception noted) The Four Seasons Hotel. (But don’t get your hopes up regarding the latter; Reacher is not a guest there.) 

You don’t need to know the plot specifics.  Gone Tomorrow is comfortingly similar to the 19 (?) other Reacher thrillers, complicated, suspenseful, violent, and informative (ask me about subway car design.)

Don’t start this one too late in the evening; you’ll be up all night!

Nashville was named one of five cities with the fastest growing job markets in 2010-11! I knew things were buzzing around here!

Read the rest of the article in The Atlantic Cities.

Nashville Foreclosures On The Upswing?

A few years ago every buyer wanted a foreclosed property.

I receive this request less frequently now and can happily report that there are no such bargains in Green Hills or Belle Meade.

But there are still many foreclosed properties in other zip codes. And although foreclosures have tapered off in our marketplace overall, some experts argue that another wave of foreclosures could be coming our way. Hmmm.

Read the rest of the article in The Tennessean.

What Is It About 12 South?

“Everything’s up to date in Kansas City

They gone about as fer as they can go” 

Like Kansas City in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s classic show Oklahoma, 12 South is totally up to date, but unlike KC, there’s plenty more growth.

 12 South is booming.  What you think of this probably depends whether you are a developer, homeowner, retailer , preservationist, or renter.
Read about the changes in this hot neighborhood in The City Paper.

I was thrilled to discover the novel Still Life for two reasons. First it is an excellent crime novel. Secondly, it is the first in author Louise Penny’s Three Pines mystery series, which means that there are more novels featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache available for immediate consumption!

Still Life starts off conventionally enough. On the outskirts of the quaint Canadian village, Three Pines, an elderly lady is found dead in the woods. The Poirot-like Gamache and his team of homicide investigators are sent from Montreal to investigate the suspicious death.  

At first glance, the case is a non-starter. The villagers are convinced that Ms. Neal’s demise is nothing more than a tragic hunting accident, but Gamache is not so sure. In fact, nothing in Three Pines is a sure thing.

Still Life is a quintessential “English cozy,” albeit set in Canada. But with her convincing characters and sly dialogue, Penny transcends the tea and crumpets crime novel.

When I find a new crime series, I tend to gobble them up all at once. So, of course, I have already started the second Chief Inspector Gamache mystery, A Fatal Grace.  But after this one, I promise to pace myself!

Below is a list of what I received in the mail today. Each piece went directly (unopened) into the trash can. Why do I even have a mailbox?

• Brochure from Oceania Cruises
• Postcard from The Great Courses
• Postcard from a roofing company(“Hail Alert!”)
• Comcast promotion (the first of several I’ll receive this week)
• Solicitation from a cleaning company
• Subscription request to a health magazine   
• Restaurant coupons
• Invitation(?) to an event at the Hermitage (Andy’s home, not the hotel)
• Flyers for I don’t even know what
• Two catalogues (children’s clothing & home furnishings)

Not even a bill!

Is anything fun and/or meaningful sent through the mail anymore? 

In New York Diaries, Editor Teresa Carpenter has compiled diary entries of residents and visitors to New York City from the early 1600s to the present. Starting on January 1, and continuing day by day throughout the year, she selects a few entries from the writings of a wide range of New Yorkers. 

New York Diaries is the perfect bedtime read—engrossing, but no pesky plot line to remember the next day!

Image via Wikipedia