Me? Book Club?

Over the last couple of months, a core group of us have been meeting to discuss some of the books we have been reading. There are 4 of us which include our associate pastor and youth minister. It has been a real joy as we have discussed these book and then applied some of our interpretations as it pertains it to our life, politics, religion, aspirations, growing up as kids (we all are between 27-30 years old), our marriages (only one is unmarried), raising children (even though only one actually has children), life visions, our beliefs, etc.

What makes it a little unique though is that we have stayed away from religion or Christianity books and we meet at a bar (McCaffery's Pub in Lincoln Park). It is funny to have a couple pastors and 2 other dudes having these 2 hour long literary discussions about all the subjects I mentioned above. We get some looks, but the location definitely sparks a lot of the discussion. As we can observe people, listen to the music on the juke box (mostly classic rock which we all know), discuss with the waitress sometimes, and apply it to what we are reading. We definitely have different perspectives and ideologies we bring to the table. We remain open even through our disagreements and allow each to speak freely to explain something. And we act like guys, real guys. With guy jokes and comments. It is a real joy and actually, refreshing.

So far we have discussed:

• Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher
• Fidelity by Wendell Berry (a book with 5 short stories, but we talked about the self-titled short story)
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

If you like to read and discuss books and know a couple other dudes that do too, it is definitely something to try out.