Book Clubs Abroad

I am a reader. The written word is one of my raison d'etres, to borrow from the book I had to read for my first meeting of The Utrecht Book Club last night, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. I figured that since I love to read, a book club would be the perfect place to meet like minded individuals and make new friends.

This month, we read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I have to admit, I had my reservations. I had seen the trailer for the movie and it did not look like my kind of book. But it is written by Jonathan Safran Foer and Everything is Illuminated has been on my to read list for years, but I've never quite gotten around to it. I must confess that I know that I am an extraordinarily fast reader, so I didn't start the 300 pager until the Friday before.  I went to the meeting on Monday not sure what to expect. There were ten of us, all from different backgrounds. I have to say I was very nervous at first, but shortly felt right at ease. We had an excellent discussion on the novel. Everyone who had read the book really enjoyed it, so if you were thinking of reading it, do it. 

Next month, the book we are reading is Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. I hear good things about it. I have a few books that need to be read before I start, so it might be another weekend before read. 

I am actually really excited because in May I will be in two book clubs. A new one is starting with some blogger buds. We are reading Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman. So yay for meeting new book lovers! 

If you want to friend me on goodreads, that would be awesome! Although, I will warn you, I signed up for their 2012 Reading Challenge and set a pretty lofty goal of 100 books this year. So, while there are some gems I've read, there are some crappy books in there as well. 

What are you reading?