Billy of the Book Club

Billy is a part of a book club that is essentially a circle of women from her neighborhood who’re all about the same age and all happen to have the same taste in books. They started this group in order to expand their ideas by sharing opinions with others. A wonderful thought, when executed properly.

The book club always picks non-fiction novels to read each month, mostly because fiction is just not real enough for these woman. Indulging in fictional stories is silly because they offer nothing about the real world, so how could they possibly expand their ideas and opinions by reading fiction?

Non-fiction, on the other hand, is completely true and we can all learn something from it. The women in this group are very adamant on this subject and regularly discuss why non-fiction is so much better than fiction at meetings. Why waste time on a story of untruth when they could instead gain more from a politician’s biography? Or a memoir?

Billy is currently reading through Beloved, by Toni Morrison, while she sips on a cup of light roasted coffee. It’s not on the book club’s list because it’s fiction, but she likes it anyway. For a moment, she stares off into space and contemplates what excuse she might use at the meeting tomorrow. She will finish Beloved tonight, but she hasn’t even started Men We Reaped, by Jesmyn Ward.