On Friday, I had a chance to get together with some of my favorite DC blogger ladies for our first book club meeting.

Gretchen and Claire thought it would be a fun idea to get us together to discuss books while eating delicious food and drinking wine.

For our first meeting we read the Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I had heard mixed reviews on the book going in, but I actually ended up really enjoying it.


The story is about a race car driver and his family told from the perspective of his dog. The first half of the book deals with Denny's wife's struggle with brain cancer. The second half looks at how Denny's life is literally turned upside down after she dies (not a spoiler, the dog tells you she dies on page one of the book).

The book is an extremely fast read. I tore through it one weekend in between watching football playoffs.

It was a lot of fun to hear everyone's perspectives on the book, what characters people loved and who they hated. What they thought of a story being told from the perspective of a dog and what people thought of the ending of the book.


Not to give too much away, but the general consensus seemed to be:

• No one liked the wife and we weren't even that sad when she died.
• The dog's point of view was interesting, but sometimes seemed to be a little too all-knowing.
• And there were completely mixed feelings about the ending. I thought the book could have done without the Epilogue.

The last time I really analyzed a book like that was probably back in one of my college English classes, so it was really fun to read a book with such a critical eye, for more than just enjoyment.

Next month we're going to be reading The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I'm kind of loving that book club is introducing me to books I don't think I would have picked up to read on my own.

Major thanks to Gretchen for hosting us (and for sharing all her photos with me!). I'm really looking forward to next month!