This is the Drinking Club with a Reading Problem. What is this group, you may ask? Some exclusive literary enclave? Yes, and no. I’ll start at the beginning.

About two years ago, in a bar in New York City (let’s say the West Village) three friends met for dinner. Over wine, they lamented how infrequently they saw each other. Wouldn’t it be great if there was something that would bring them together each month for some much needed girl time? Maybe something like…a book club? And so, the Drinking Club with a Reading Problem was born. The ladies would rotate who picked that month’s title, and meet at a wine bar each month to discuss the read. One of the founding ladies (we’ll call her AM) pulled the name out of her incredibly witty brain (I wish I could take credit for it. Bitch). Because in this book club, the wine is just as important as the read.

I was not one of the original three that fateful night. I joined the club about a year later, on a brisk January night when nothing seemed to be quite right, and I needed the warmth of a brilliant band of women. I was inducted that night over red wine and mac n’ cheese, discussing Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, which three of the six women had read. I learned quickly that the book of the month was not the most important part of the event. Did everyone in the club read? Yes. Did everyone read the book that was selected? Well…let’s say we haven’t had that much success with that. But we talk about many other great reads.

I’m starting this blog to document my own love of the written word, and this extraordinary group with an extraordinary name. I am a professed book nerd–I work in publishing, and have been devouring books since the tender age of five, when I decided it would be a fantastic idea to retype my copy of Beauty and the Beast on my mother’s typewriter. Expect to find shelfies, reviews, musings, and missives from the club within these tabs. I hope you follow along, and find a home within this group as I did.

Happy Reading,

E

(P.S. Our club is run by Sylvia Plath. She may pop in to say hi. Don’t ask).