Saturday, February 11, 2012

I had a lovely time last night visiting a Book Group-- folks from various towns in New Jersey-- Maplewood, Westfield, etc. They have a highly organized system of 11 monthly meetings, and each member hosts once and (on a different occasion) chooses the book and leads the discussion. Several of these women were people that I have known in the past; some are writers as well as readers; I have a common friend with others. It's a wonderful combination of social and literary.

They read my Out of the Mountains, and I had the enormous pleasure, so rare for writers, of getting various comments made to my face about my work. I am always fascinated by who likes which story-- some preferred the stories with the most Appalachian characters, others liked the stories with people who could have lived in New Jersey. They had questions, and a lot of good insights.

It was a really stimulating evening for me.

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