This summer has been eventful for the LitChicks.

In June, we met to discuss "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro.  I would say that most of the members were either familiar with movie it inspired (starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson) or with Kazuo Ishiguro's other book "Never Let Me Go" (which those members highly recommended).  The concensus on this book was that while it was beautifully written, it wasn't able to overcome the lack of any real plot.  Members were very consistent on goodreads, giving it 2-3 stars.  

The big news coming out of our June meeting was that we decided to launch a second branch of the NoVA LitChicks.  If you pay attention to our website you may have seen our post about it.  There was stellar response to this idea, both from our current membership and the general public.  We were able to fully fill a new club by the middle of June, and set a launch date of July 22nd.

Our original group met in the beginning of July to discuss "The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in The World" by A.J. Jacobs.  Only a few people managed to finish it.  I think most were turned off with a book that mostly regurgitated encyclopedia entries.  Those who had read and enjoyed some of his other books agreed that this was not his best effort (although to be fair, this was also his first book).  Once again, members were fairly consistent in giving it 2-3 stars on Goodreads.

Finally, the New LitChicks met in late July to discuss "The Housekeeper and the Professor" by Yoko Ogawa.  It was a great meeting.  Conversation constantly flowed even though we were all strangers at the beginning of the meeting.  It is a sign of great things to come.  We agreed that it was a charming and sweet book.  While the book does refer to math a good deal (the Professor is a math professor after all), it was not overbearing.  Several ladies noted that they would have liked to see the past relationship between the Professor and his sister-in-law more fleshed out.  

Overall it was a great start to the summer.  In August, we will be reading "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb (original LitChicks) and "The Wives of Los Alamos".

WOW!!  We have gotten such a robust reaction to opening a new club.   Right now we have 12 ladies ready to launch the new club.  I really thought it was going to take months to get to that point.  Unfortunately this means that new membership requests will be placed on a waiting list for the time-being.   Thanks so much for your interest in the LitChicks.

Over the years we have found that 12 is the right number for members in the LitChicks.  If a few people can't make it to a meeting, you still have enough people to have a good discussion; if everyone can make the meeting, there's not enough people so the meeting gets out of hand; and best of all, everybody gets to pick a book once a year.

One of the reasons for revitalizing this website is that LitChicks had a few open spots in membership and we were looking for some really cool women to fill them.  We were able to quickly do that, and since December we have had a full and steady roster.  While this is great news for our club, it has meant that any new people to write into us regarding membership have had to be put on a waiting list.

During the first part of 2015, our waiting list has grown big enough that there are enough people on it to start a new book club; rather than keeping people waiting indefinitely for an opening into the current club, we decided that we would start a second group.

Starting sometime this summer, we will be launching a second NoVA LitChicks club. Current LitChicks members will help at the beginning to establish the club, and will step away once everything is running.  Our hope is to have two independently running clubs, but who occasionally get together for social events (like movie nights).  

We are looking for another six or seven women to join some of the ladies on our waiting list to start the new club.  If you are a Northern Virginia, woman interested in joining us in this new book club, please let us know through our Contact Us page.

Today's Throwback Thursday takes us to the very recent past: yesterday.  Yesterday was the first Wednesday of the month which meant that it was book club night.  Our November book "Glitter and Glue" by Kelly Corrigan, nominated by our member Alison.  

In the middle of "Glitter and Glue" Corrigan recalls a lecture in college where her professor explained a theory: "More often than not, it's the readers - not the writers - who determine what a book means.  The idea is that readers don't come blank to books.  Consciously and not, we bring all the biases that come with our nationality, gender, race, class, age.  Then you layer onto that the status of our health, employment, relationships, not to mention our particular relationship to each book - who gave it to us, where we read it, what books we've already read." (page 145 of Kindle version)   This theory was very evident in our discussion last night, as we all reacted to the book by looking at our relationships with our own parents, as well as our status as parents, parents-to-be, or non-parents.  

One of the most discussed questions was did parents have to choose between being the glitter or the glue; could parents be both or neither.  It seemed like we all had our own different opinions that we based on our own experiences.  It was truly an interesting discussion, and by the end of the meeting member Julia summed it up perfectly by saying, "Now I really wish I could meet everyone's parents."

Overall the club liked the book.  On the goodreads 5 star scale, the book got mostly 4's and 5's.  Emily described it as "both a love letter to your mother and your children".  The one thing we all did agree on is that it will get you thinking about your mother.


Club News:
November marked the 2 year anniversary for members Alison and Jeanette.  On a sad note, this was the last meeting for members Stephanie and Debra.  We wish them nothing but the best in their future endeavors.

The big news was that November marks the 10th Anniversary of the NoVA Lit Chicks.  While none of our members today were at that first meeting, we continue to carry on the tradition of sharing literature and friendship.   To all Lit Chicks past and present, thank you for helping to make the club what it is today, and here's to another 10 years of reading together.

If you can't tell from the title of this blog, this is the new website for the Northern Virginia (NoVA) Lit Chicks.  Here we will be posting about what we're reading in the Lit Chicks as well as other literary news to hit the Northern Virginia area.  

So a quick tour of the site:

• On the "Home" you will find our latest blog entries, including updates on what we are reading next.  We'll try to update this page once a week.
• On the "Past Reads" page you can keep up with what we have read in the past year and beyond.  The Lit Chicks (as we call ourselves) have been around for almost 10 years so we've read a lot, but for the moment our book list only goes back to about late 2011.
• The "About Us" page tells you all about our club here in Northern Virginia.  While this website is open to all book lovers, we are a club which actually meets once a month. If you live in the Metro DC area and are looking for a book club, we recommend you read this page and get a sense of who we are before submitting a request for membership.
• Finally, the "Contact Us" page is where you will find information on how to contact us.  

Thanks for checking us out.  We hope you enjoy our website.