Covering the Right Side of the Wrong Bed

My book club, Cover to Cover, has been going on 4 months strong. While the book selections have been all over the board in terms of literary work to bathroom reading, the conversations are always most enlightening.

This month's meeting was of no variation and probably brought about the most interesting conversation to date. This past month Right Side of the Wrong Bed by fellow blogger Fredrick Smith was chosen. We tend to start the meeting by allowing every member to give just two words on what they thought of the book. Most of the group agreed and my two words kept getting stolen from others in the group so when it finally came to my time to speak the only words I could use that hadn't been used were.... eh & draining.

I had read Smith's first book, Down for Whatever, and thought the characters and the story were pretty well written. However in this book I found the characters annoying and by chapter 15... I was like damn I am not done yet. The book's two main characters are the type of homosexuals that irk me the most... one a caniving liar trying to get over and the second and most annoying a passive, desperate grown man. The endless circles of nonsense that these two go through extends chapter after chapter... making you wonder if any real 30something can really be this stupid. I don't know anyone like this however other book club members could identify through some of their personal experiences. I myself tend to cut people from my circle who display such a character flaw. There is enough to deal with in life, to have to deal with blissful ignorance which most of the 30 chapters in this book were, which is what made it painful to read.

But the good thing about this book is that it brought up an insightful conversation that had each of us sharing experiences about what we can and can't deal with and how age and experience seems to blur that line to find reality. Our conversation was the most real and most telling... of the four months I learned more about my fellow book club members that one afternoon than any other. So while I went into the meeting thinking it was actually the Wrong book for the Right Club... it turned into being a great conversation starter.

Next month's selection is This Place of Men by Doug Spencer Cooper.