Often at Lourdes, we sing We’ve Come This Far by Faith…and I’d like to think of that as the Book Club’s theme song – rather, my theme song in relation to Lourdes. The Lourdes Book Club (LBC) began in January of 2008 – but before I give you a brief history of LBC, I have to give you a brief history of me.
In January of 2008 I was just beginning an online graduate program – first let me explain that I can be a bit of a procrastinator. You see, I graduated from college in 1994. After graduation, like many recent grads, I found myself asking “what’s next?” I probably started “thinking” about graduate school a few days later…fast forward to 2007 (a measly 13 years later) I applied (and was accepted)… but I say “slow and steady wins the race!”
I’d specifically chosen an online program because I intended to continue working my full-time job, as well as my part-time job at a chain book store (I was able to scale back to working just one night a week).
Sooo, that’s a full time job, a part time job, and grad school…needless to say I was anticipating a busy couple of years. And then I came across a little blurb in the Lourdes Bulletin.
As I said, LBC began in January 2008 and the first selection was Krik?Krak! by Edwidge Danticat. Edwidge Danitcat is by far one of my favorite authors and Krik?Krak! is by far one of my favorite books. I was over the moon excited! I was all in…and then I checked my calendar. I had a conflict!
I reached out to Ingrid Torsay, the original member LBC who conceived of and coordinated the LBC until 2011. I shared with Ingrid how excited I was about the January book but how disappointed I was that I wouldn’t be able to make the meeting. Ingrid was enthusiastic about my interest and very kind to me. She assured me that missing the meeting wouldn’t be a problem.
This is where my theme song reference comes into play…I’d joined Our Lady of Lourdes around 1999 or 2000. I thought it was a great church. I loved the music. I enjoyed the homilies. My attendance, however, was irregular. Infrequent may be a more accurate description. To that end, I didn’t see the announcement and I missed the next meeting too! My words were saying “super excited,” but my (in)action was saying “not so much.”
Here’s something else about me – and being a member of a book club, this makes sense – I like to read. Voraciously. I mentioned that I worked part time in a book store – something of theme? Sometimes I read really great, well written, deep, thought provoking, heartfelt titles. Other times? I really, really don’t. For the better part of the 9 years I worked in the book store I spent most of my time in the Children’s Department. It was fantastic! I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. To be an effective and informed employee, I read an inordinate amount of children’s literature…which isn’t necessarily a bad thing…but it spoiled me…I developed quite an affinity for a happy ending. In the early days of the part time job, customers and book sellers alike would ask me what I liked to read and I would answer glibly, “everything with a pink cover!” Pink covers almost always guarantee a happy ending!
So I went through a fairly extensive phase where I was exclusively reading what I now lovingly refer to as “cotton candy.” No judgment please – I love this kind of book! Take a look at my Shelfari page and you’ll see I still read a LOT of “cotton candy!” A light and fluffy, “cotton candy” book isn’t a bad thing but you have to have balance. In the same way you couldn’t survive on a steady diet of actual cotton candy, I came to the realization that I needed to have balance in my reading diet.
I know I meander quite a bit but here’s where I’m going…like my “cotton candy” reads, here comes the happy ending… the impact LBC has had a impact on my life…
In March of 2008, I finally made it to an LBC meeting. We read Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, another title I’d read previously but also one of my all time favorite books! This is such a wonderfully written book and the conversations that it inspired were amazing. I was hooked! I mentioned earlier when I joined Lourdes in terms of chronology but being active in LBC is when I really became a member of Lourdes. LBC bought me closer to the greater Lourdes Community. Lourdes truly became my church home and with the LBC, I had real connections with my church family. Because of my membership in the LBC I became a happy, eager member of Lourdes.
The books we’ve chosen have been awesome. The stories have not all had happy endings. Not a single cover was pink! Some stories I loved, some made me cry. Others still, I didn’t like at all. All the while I learned about people and cultures from nearly every corner of the globe who were as different from me as I could ever have fathomed or were as familiar as my own family.
From each book we’ve read I’ve learned and grown. What a blessing. We’ve come this far by faith. By faith, I’ve gained this wonderful church family and have been exposed to all of these wonderful characters from around the world. I’ve learned about people’s plights and pain but more importantly, the promise, potential and perseverance of people of faith. ..Trusting in His holy world, He’s never failed us yet.
Lourdes Book Club 