U.S. Campus Life An excuse to read By Masako Yamada	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
読書のきっかけ 文学作品に親しむ機会のあまりなかった雅子さんですが、大学でばったり会った旧友に勧められ、読書サークルに参加することになりました。月に一回程度開かれる会合では、一つの作品を取り上げ、皆で著者や作品の構成についてディスカッションします。先日、初めての会がカジュアルな雰囲気の中で行なわれました。

Several weeks ago, as I was walking inside one of the buildings at BU, I ran into a woman who had once considered being my roommate. Annie and I met at a dinner party at the home of a mutual friend named Christina. At the time, she was looking for a home and we were looking for a new roommate to live with us. She subsequently decided to live elsewhere Eand we found another roommate Ebut I think we both agreed that we'd enjoy socializing with each other in the future.

We chatted for a while in the hallway when she invited me to a book club that Christina was organizing. I immediately told her that I was interested. My friends expressed surprise that I've decided to engage in yet another extracurricular activity but I felt that I had a lot to gain by joining. Besides, I knew that it wouldn't occupy so much of my time.

Book clubs usually involve a small number of people who get together every month or so to discuss literature. They agree to read the same book before each meeting. Book clubs are often mediated by a leader figure who keeps the conversation going. The leader could be a local professor or writer, or it could just be somebody from within the group. Book clubs might also have some kind of theme. Perhaps our "theme" is that all members are women.

Christina decided that it would be a good idea to rotate the discussion leader. The "hostess" of each meeting would choose the book and provide her home for the meeting. Christina served as hostess during our first meeting. She did an amazing job. She provided delicious homemade apple cake, a variety of coffees and teas, and a photocopied list of information about the author, as well as a list of topics that interested her.

Christina and I had both been English majors at Wellesley, and we took several classes together. I knew that she makes unusually sharp and sophisticated literary observations, and one of the reasons I wanted to join the book club is so that I could be exposed to that kind of thinking. I haven't been reading much literature lately, and I wanted an excuse to pick up a book and read.

Our first assignment was "The Blind Assassin" by Margaret Atwood. It's a 500-page novel that involves several levels of narration and several unexpected plot twists, so it wasn't until I was almost finished reading the book that I understood what was going on. For several evenings before the meeting, the book was practically attached to my hands.

The narrator of the novel is an old woman who writes about her life to her estranged granddaughter. This in itself is not difficult to follow. However, embedded within this novel is a romantic novelette of two lovers who carry on a secret affair. And within this novelette is a fantasy story of a far-away alien civilization. The crucial point is that all of these stories are connected to each other.

Four members showed up at the first meeting. While munching on apple cake and snacks, we first commented on the novel-constructing technique: we were all amazed by it's architectural complexity, as if it were a building with lots of weird angles and secret trapdoors that somehow managed to hold together and be sound. However, we soon moved to discussing issues beyond the technical elements. Perhaps because Margaret Atwood is considered a "feminist" novelist, and perhaps because we're all women ourselves, we seemed to focus on many issues relating to motherhood and sisterhood.

The tone was casual during the entire discussion, and two hours quickly flew by. At the end of the discussion, we decided on our next hostess, Megan, and our next book, "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris. After we got all of the administrative details out of the way, we continued to chat about miscellaneous topics, such as which cookbooks are best for making cakes, and which kinds of apples one could pick around Boston. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I suppose that part of the reason I joined the book club is because I wanted this camaraderie as well.

Shukan ST: Oct. 12, 2001

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