An unexpected invitation

When I was in my early 20s, I was asked to join a book group of established women in town—an artist, an architect, a writer, a copy editor, an accountant, a gallery owner. The women were all older than I was, and (I have to say this) extremely aggressive.

What I didn’t know when I joined was that the group was more of a cocktail club than book club and that nobody every agreed on anything except “Another Kettle One Martini.” But once I figured out that arguing was more than acceptable, it was expected, I felt fine nominating my favorite oddball books for discussion: Geek Love, Sexing the Cherry, Story of the Eye. You should have heard the talk for that last one. I can remember one of the women glaring at me as she banged the book on the table.

So you’ll imagine that I accepted the following invitation with some trepidation—you see, a few weeks ago a group of seven women asked me to be the guest at their book group. They’d decided to read Tiffany Twisted, and they tracked me down via MySpace and asked if I would attend their meeting—via speaker phone.

In my head, I remembered Kate hissing about how much she despised Bataille’s classic, and I thought, Oh, holy fuck. What if they are all upset about having spent the $12 bucks on Tiffany? What if they want to tell me what I got wrong?

Insert sweet sigh of relief.

Apparently, other people’s book groups are not quite so dysfunctional as mine was. These women actually liked my novel, and they had questions about my motivation for writing Tiffany, where I’d gotten my ideas, how much “research” went into the sex scenes.

There was giggling and champagne (on their end), and blushing and tequila (on mine), and I felt as if I’d been asked to join a a grown-up slumber party. More enjoyable than I could have imagined—although truly nerve wracking for me all day yesterday.

I woke to an email asking if I’ll “join” again in a few months. They’re going to read Melt With You! I’m thrilled.

Now, where is my XXX-reading book club? Oh, yes, it’s over at Trollop Salon, where I’ve just posted a final excerpt from Kristina Lloyd. Stop by to see!

XXX,
Alison