Bookgrouplist Meetup In Chicago-1
Chicago
I mentioned below that I would post from Chicago a week ago, but, like most of the promises I make, this one will be kept, perhaps even exceeding expectations. The occasion for being in Chicago was a first-time face to face meeting of several members of an online book club we’re in. We’ve corresponded for over a year, so everyone was pretty comfortable.
The ostensible gathering point was the Printers Row Book Fair, featuring booksellers’ booths and lectures. The weather on Saturday was just about perfect. We sniffed a bit at the booths, then went gallivanting all over downtown Chicago. We visited the Chicago Art Institute, Navy Pier, walked along the shore through Lincoln Park and up into the Gold Coast north of town, a mix of high-rise condos and jaw-droppingly charming brownstone houses.
The image of Chicago that comes to mind, especially to a Northwesterner, is of a big, dirty, inhospitable city. However, they have made a great effort to make downtown pedestrian-friendly, and on a nice day it’s a pleasure. (I’ve also been there for an Easter sleet storm that coated my car with 4 inches of ice).
Just to earn our chops as a book club, several of us attended a reading by Margaret Atwood - she’s on tour flogging her new book Oryx and Crake. She’s a witty and, in her contemplative way, passionate about issues facing humanity.
Folks pretty much adhered to their online personas. A couple of the women were into this over-50 Red Hat Ladies thing, a sort of sweet bravado against the inevitable. Also made it easy to find them when they wandered. At 52, my wife is in denial, and indignantly dumps all the AARP mail into my pile, so she was defiantly bareheaded and unmoved by their entreaties to join in. She’ll be rock climbing in the Tetons next month with 20-somethings, so AARP goes into the recycling for now.
