A book about book club - the book that matters most

Read - Collage of magazine and
vintage book scraps

I do have a thing about books that feature books or bookstores as a central theme (Bookstores, dreams of owning a bookstore, and more bookstores with a mysterious twist) so of course I would be drawn to a book with the title the book that matters most written by Ann Hood. This novel explores the benefit of belonging to a book club. There are many reasons to join a book club (I'm a member of two currently); social, emotional, intellectual needs that can be met by sitting down with others to discuss books (have some yummy snacks and maybe even a glass of wine or a cup of tea). If anything I find that I've been stretched in my reading - taken out of my comfort zone to read titles that I normally might not have chosen.

The book club in Hope's novel is organized by having each member choose a book based on an annual theme. When Ava joins the group, the new theme is "the book that means the most to you." She instantly thinks of a book given to her shortly after her mother's suicide that followed only a year after her younger sister's accidental death. This book helped Ava to get through her grief, but unfortunately she was never able to give up the misguided sense of responsibility for her sister's death.

Ava's got other baggage to deal with - a husband who has left her for a former girlfriend and a daughter who struggles with drug addiction. With the wide spread opioid abuse issues plaguing our country, Hope's description of this young woman's experience is scary.

Each month as the members discuss the various titles we learn about a time in their lives when their particular book mattered the most. "The idea of the book that matters most,' Kiki said. 'Because I think it's like impossible to pick such a book. When you read a book, and who you are when you read it, makes it matter or not." (266) Is it possible to choose one book that matters the most? I think Kiki hit the nail on the head by saying that often the book we are currently reading matters the most. We are transformed by every book that we read somehow even if we don't realize it. The mindfulness of reading - being in the present moment with the content - not looking back to a previous title or thinking about some future book.

Reading has always been a comfort, a source of escape when life gets too hard, or a way of finding enjoyment when things have become to stressful. I think about Tolstoy and the Purple Chair (see post) and the power that reading has to help restore the soul. Ann Hope's book is another one to add to the collection of books that mean something special to me.