Bookworms and Brews

 I observed the March meeting of Muncie Public Library’s Bookworms & Brews book club. According to the MPL website, “Bookworms & Brews combines literary and seminal works of fiction with the fine appreciation of libation and friends. We read classics, modern, and international prize winning fiction.” Pre-COVID the club met at Books and Brews, but has been meeting on Zoom since last year. 

This month’s book was The Armies of the Night by Norman Mailer, a nonfiction novel accounting his experiences as part of the March on the Pentagon in 1967. I knew from speaking with the group leader’s spouse that he really hated the book. I asked why it was chosen and was told that the group chose it, and chooses all of the books that they read and discuss from a list of available book club kits in the appropriate genres. 

I was looking forward to observing, as my friend Anthony is the leader of the group and I anticipated a lively discussion. I was not disappointed. Anthony is very good at talking about things in an interesting and engaging way. He knows a lot about books, and film, and especially music (he has a doctorate in musicology), and it was clear that he had thoroughly researched the various critiques of the text as well as the time contemporary to the work. 

The club is a well-established group, and the members seem to enjoy one another’s discussions. Perhaps inspired by the host’s thorough research, the group members also performed some contextual research to enrich their understanding of the text. Five people joined Anthony: three women and two men; two members appeared to be in their 30s while the other three were in their 70s.

After several minutes of conversation about classical music -- the group knows Anthony’s expertise and enjoys talking to him -- the meeting started. Anthony began by introducing the author and contextualizing his works, including comparisons to contemporaries Truman Capote and Gore Vidal. The significance of Capote having invented the genre of the nonfiction novel was noted. 

The first point of discussion is the time period of the events described in the work. One of the older participants has a lot to say about that time frame. He was in his twenties in 1967, so has memories of the time, but has also looked for resources to supplement his understanding of the text. From there the conversation turned to Mailer’s personal life, which leads all of the participants to agree that he was a terrible person (he attempted to murder his second wife by stabbing her, had multiple affairs, and was a raging alcoholic).

Anthony related the march in the book to the events of January 6, 2021. This resulted in some very sincere emotional responses to the events of that day, and led into the most compelling part of the discussion. Anthony, in his 30s, invited the three older participants to relate their memories of 1967. One woman recalls being active in the Young Republicans and remembers thinking the Vietnam War was necessary to prevent the spread of Communism. Notably, she does not know anyone who fought in Vietnam.

The older man was a student at Ball State at the time, and at one point was certain he wanted to drop out to become a Navy pilot. He explains that he grew up in a sheltered environment in a small town, but when he started talking to his college friends about current events, his perspective changed. He’s unsure how he would have responded to being drafted. 

The other older woman describes herself a pacifist. She participated in protests and marches, and gives a  moving account of conversations she’d had with a relative who was on the ground in Vietnam. She is clearly very upset at the memory of the discussions, nearly tearing up when describing the notches he put on his belt every time he killed someone. She also notes that billions of dollars spent at war would serve the world better if they were used to bolster infrastructure, education, and economies of the struggling nations. But to her, the biggest tragedy is that when we talk about wars it’s about policy and politics, but “We don’t talk about what we do to people”. 

The meeting wraps up with an introduction to the next book by Flannery O’Connor. Anthony announces the library’s new hours and policies. He also promotes his other book club, which is discussing the new translation of Beowulf, with a note that the copies are all checked out.

I have never attended a book club before, but I sat in a LOT of literature classes during my undergraduate and masters’ degrees. This meeting was what those classes would be like if everyone really wanted to be there, reading those books (even if they didn’t enjoy them much), talking about them with people they like and respect. Everyone did their part and then some, they were respectful to one another, and were led in a very thoughtful way through the discussion. Anthony understands who the members of the group are and brings them to the conversation in a way that is at once spontaneous and crafted - he knows and values their viewpoints, and makes the group about them.