The Book that Matters Most

    A friend told me that I must read this book because it is about a book club.  She knows that I love book clubs!    I have read non-fiction books about book clubs, but this novel is purely fiction. The book club here is in a library and only allows 12 people to join.  After that, you must wait until a spot becomes available.
   They choose a theme every year.  The theme explored here is 'the book that matters most'. 
    I had to think long and hard about this theme.  I guess it means the book that has great importance or significance for you.  Each member chose one title.  Wouldn't that be difficult?

These were their choices ( 9 real books, 1 is part of the fictional story)
1. Pride and Prejudice
2. The Great Gatsby
3. Anna Karenina
4. One Hundred Years of Solitude
5. To Kill a Mockingbird
6. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
7. Catcher in the Rye
8. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
9. Slaughterhouse five
10. From Clare to Here ( part of the fiction of the book)

   I love books about books.  I have not read the last two real titles.  So, I immediately searched out my copy of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being".  It is one of those books that I always intend to read but never get it done.  I bought it many years ago.

   The main focus of "The Book That Matters Most" was Ava, whose 20-year marriage had ended and she joined the book club for companionship. Fortunately a spot had opened up.  For this theme, she chose a book from her youth (From Clare to Here) and a rather interesting mystery developed around that fictional book and author.
   I did not enjoy the characters of Ava and her troubled daughter Maggie.  There was a lot of detail about Maggie's reckless behaviour in Paris.  Also, the writing was not great.
   But it is always interesting to read about book clubs, even in fiction.