Books and Friends
by Justine Camacho-Tajonera
Two years ago, on January 16, 2010, five women, including me, started a book club. We met at Cafe Breton, Podium, Pasig City. We agreed on the rules and I think our first book was Being Happy by Andrew Matthews. Little did I know, at the time, that one of us was in need of a major dose of happiness in her life.
We tackled books like The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, The Elegance of The Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and Battle Hymn of a Tiger Mom by Amy Chua. We purposely asked each other to expand the genres we were used to reading. Later on, we called our little club the BBC (Breton Book Club). We're not a broadcast group, we don't live in Breton...but we have this intimate space called a book club.
We don't meet as regularly anymore and from five we're now down to three. But I still cherish my book club. I learned a lot from these friends and I get to express my love for books fully with them. One of them confessed that she can't talk about books among her work friends. She craves the company of people who can talk about books...just about books and how they've expanded her life.
Just this year, my book club mates met in Paris, France (a coincidence of sorts) and sent me a lovely postcard from Montmarte, rue Foyatier. I really felt I was there with them, holding on to their cups of cafe creme and talking about going to Shakespeare & Co.
One of us says, "But it's a book club!" in retort to questions about love and other things. It is a book club...one that opens up new worlds for us and gives us windows into ourselves. I can be an unabashed bibliophile with these two. Ultimately, that's the gift that they've given me: the opportunity to be a complete nerd and talk all afternoon to evening about books, books, books...but not only that...about life and how the books have made it come alive for me. So...to my book club mates: je t'aime! I love you so. And I look forward to more and more books in our lives no matter how long it takes in between our meetings.
Picture of Cafe Breton from ph.openrice.com.
Picture of postcard from Montmarte, rue Foyatier from the author
2 comments:
Hi, Justine! Your book club sounds wonderful! Too bad that you don't meet that often anymore though. You must have talked and talked for hours about those books!
Oh Jus... Thank you so much for this touching post. I miss our little book haven so much and the way we just naturally, sincerely, nakedly share our ideas, thoughts, stories, feelings with each other. I need to go back to that haven. Let's find a way to revive BBC! See you soon.
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