There is an inordinate amount of wine at book clubs.
In fact, I have yet to go to a book club where there aren’t at least half a dozen open bottles of vino beckoning to me. The wine bar is the Book Club’s version of an oasis and instead of a dehydrated man crawling through the desert wondering if his thirst is creating the illusion of water, the participants are trendily dressed women whose foray into highly personal conversations dictates the necessity for a panoply of liquid courage.
I truly appreciate Book Club wine bars and last night’s selection made me feel like a sommelier as I paired my Cab-Franc blend with not one, but thirteen chocolate nut bars.
My gluttony wasn’t totally my fault, I just happened to enter the room and stand directly in front of the chocolate nut bars. I probably could have stood in front of the guacamole or the fruit plate, but the space by the chocolate nut bars was open…so I staked my claim. One of my mother’s few culinary gifts is baking chocolate nut bars and when I bit into the first bar it immediately took me down memory lane. So I just kept biting.
I ate a chocolate nut bar when pretty Lauren asked me why I set The Affair in Boston…because it’s one of my favorite cities, has a nice blend of history and culture and is an accessible version of New York.
I ate a chocolate nut bar while I answered fabulous Unique’s question if I write every day…I do. Writers must. Even though I work in yoga pants and tee shirts in my home office, I still discipline myself to ‘go to work’ every day.
I ate a chocolate nut bar while dynamic Emily asked me which of the three characters I most identified with…all three of them because they are not bad people, they have all just made bad choices.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have brought the chocolate nut bars with me when we moved the conversation into the living room; however, the hostess was filling up my wineglass so attentively that I needed to have something in my stomach to soak up the alcohol. Sure, it probably should have been the homemade lasagna or the platter of carrots and broccoli..but those chocolate nut bars were just so good.
The Book Club was a blast. We spent almost two hours discussing The Affair and the women were all very forthcoming about their own relationships and how the book related to them personally. Jean, a stunning woman with a pixie hair cut, said that The Affair made her want to treat her boyfriend better. We discussed how important it is to work at a marriage because it becomes far too easy to fall into the trap of complacency. I brought up my favorite observation that no one ever knows what happens behind closed doors…that’s why we’re all so devastated when a celebrity couple breaks up…on the surface they appear gorgeous, happy and compatible. But we only see the mask they present to the world, not the reality behind closed doors.
I loved being the guest author at the Boston Book Club…and they even gave me a doggie bag for the road…filled with the remaining chocolate nut bars.