My first “book club”

Three years ago, there was a Big Read in town. The book was Fahrenheit 451 and available at the library. I rode my bike to the library after work on a warm summer day and picked up the last copy they had at my local branch. I was excited for all of the activities they had involving the book. I started reading the book and I couldn’t get through it. I tried more than once to finish it and never managed to get far enough. So I never went to any of the activities because I had no clue what happened in the book.

I had read in the paper back in January that there would be another Big Read but this time the book was Station Eleven. The book sounded interesting so my husband graciously volunteered to go pick up the book at our local branch. They had to go get the last copy on the bookmobile. We must have great timing to have received the last copies at the library two Big Reads in a row.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure I would like the book. A post-apocalyptic novel about life after a flu pandemic wiped out most of the world’s population didn’t really seem up my alley. But, I read the book in a week and a half and I couldn’t put it down.

On Valentine’s Day my husband and I went to a talk on flu epidemics and the media. As someone who loves science it was right up my alley and I learned quite a few things.

The following evening I attended the opening talk with the author, Emily St. John Mandel. I struck up a conversation with two women behind me before it began. It was so interesting to hear the author’s reasoning for why certain things are in the book.

There was a book signing event after the talk, which is always cool!

There are tons of other activities left with the Big Read. I’m unsure if I’ll be able to attend anything else, but I’m happy that I was able to read the book and meet the author. If you ever have the opportunity to be a part of an NEA Big Read, do it! If I had to sum it up in one phrase, it’s one giant community “book club”!