"Since Eleanor Roosevelt was First Lady. When few women of means worked outside the home. Before television, before the end of World War II, before the United Nations. When 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn' and 'A Bell for Adano' were bestsellers.
That's how long the ladies of the First Friday book club have been meeting to formally discuss books -- 58 years.
So long that two founders are astonished to find themselves in their mid-90s. The other three founders have passed away, as have many of the early members. They have been replaced with women whom founder Sylvia Howard jokingly refers to as 'young chicks in their 70s and 80s.'
They can't find paperwork to document when the group formed, but Howard is quite certain it was 1944....
This isn't the kind of book group in which everyone reads the book (or at least is supposed to) and gets together to discuss the author's message and metaphors. Rather, this is a form popular with an older generation, in which one member reads a book, prepares a written report and reads it to the assembled group.
Most of the 18 First Friday members have a specialty. Shirley Zimmerman is an expert on family social policy. Dory Rose knows art. Miriam Karlins delves into mental disabilities. And Sylvia Howard's specialty, explains Dory Rose loudly to attract Howard's attention, is sex books.
That did get her attention. 'That's the only time I get any sex,' she countered dryly....
After her half-hour presentation, Friedman handed out song lyrics. She had typed them on her old Smith Corona electric typewriter, which died mid-task. She had attempted what she calls 'percussion maintenance' -- hitting or kicking a machine on the fritz -- but that wasn't effective this time. No matter. The copies were legible enough. The song lyrics included 'They Can't Take That Away from Me' by George Gershwin and 'The Ladies Who Lunch' by Stephen Sondheim. She asked members to read aloud the songs.
Some couldn't help but sing along. 'Now you understand why we're a reading group, not a singing group,' said Miriam Karlins." [StarTribune.com, via The Obscure Store & Reading Room]
[
