Escapees November-December 2022

How to enjoy the fun of being in a book club while RVing STORIES WITH FRIENDS By EVANNE SCHMARDER #65409

time and gathering to discuss it. A book club can be based upon a genre, an author, a topic, etc. It can be in-person or online, monthly or quarterly, or it can even be made into an event. Starting a Book Club If you love stories, love to read and love to talk about them, consider starting a cooperative book club by assembling a group of like-minds, where each participant shares the facilitation duties. With a little forward-thinking, organization and partner ship you can make it happen. Begin by choosing a theme for your book club. Will the group focus on fi ction (mystery, sci- fi , classics), or does your interest lie more in non- fi ction (biography/ memoir, travelogues, history)? Maybe you’d rather focus on a speci fi c topic, say histor ical family sagas, best-sellers or good vs. evil. You can expand the book club to cover books made into movies by individually reading the book and then getting together to watch the fi lm. You can settle on a club theme and then invite participants or do it the other way around, by rallying a group and then choosing a theme. Your book club can be as few as two members (but for this to work each must be truly committed to showing up every time) or up to fi ve or

Stories are the fabric of our lives. As young children, they take the form of songs and nursery rhymes, which entertain and educate our malleable minds. We learn how to read and write with Dick and Jane, love unconditionally with The Velveteen Rabbit, and about the weight words carry with The Boy Who Cried Wolf. A s we grow into adulthood, stories become about us and our surroundings, our experiences, our hopes and dreams and our accom plishments. Our lives are shaped by the media we consume, from radio programs to novels and biographies to television and movies. Call it escapism or education, the world around us is made up of stories. And we know how much RVers love a good story. Sharing Is Caring Friendship, shared interests and diverse points of view make our lives richer. They are the hallmark of our lifestyle as well as ideal qualities for a successful book club. Like RVing, book clubs are groups of individuals who share an experience, in this case reading the same book at the same

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ESCAPEES Magazine November/December 2022