Fun book club meeting

The other night we had a book club meeting. (This was book club # 1. We call ourselves the Foxy Readers. Don't ask.) Instead of our normal book club meeting, where we get together and talk about the book, we had the chance to go to a presentation an author was giving. I hadn't read the book and didn't know much about it and wasn't too sure what to expect (I really didn't read the e-mail they sent me all that thoroughly) but I was ready for a night out (I love my babies but breaks once in a while are nice) so I went.

First off, I was very surprised how many people were there. It's a small island community. (I don't live on the island anymore, but I grew up there and don't live too far from it now). It's grown considerably since I was a kid, but the number of people who showed up took me by surprise. It's not that big of a community center. I didn't count, but my guess would be that over 100 people attended.

I was also the youngest person there by about 20 years, but that isn't that unusual for me. I'm used to that from book club. I guess I enjoy old lady activities.

The name of the author is Rita Golden Gelman. She writes children's books also, but the one she was talking about that evening chronicles her life as she lives out her dream of traveling the world and meeting people. She studied as an anthropologist, and decided to use her studies to the maximum. Here's her website.

Her stories were awesome. She totally rocks. Traveling isn't something I could ever do (I have an irrational fear of leaving the country). But I liked her stories about people from totally different worlds meeting and finding common ground.

She is working towards encouraging American kids to do a gap year (go overseas for a year between high school and college) and I see the reasoning for that- showing kids that they have common ground with people all over the world. I don't necessarily agree with the gap year thing(My kids won't be going overseas as teenagers without me- I just saw the movie Taken). I don't carry the view that something is a great idea because it's a big thing in Europe. But I do think broadening the horizons of the future leaders of America could work towards a common peace in the world (But so could women taking over). So it's something I'll have to do some thinking about.

The book is Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World. I bought it and she signed it for me, but I haven't read it yet. When I do I'll post a review on my book blog.