True confession: I’ve never been in a book club.

To clarify, I have participated in Bible studies and related book studies — usually weekly meetings, going through a particular topic or book. But I’ve never been part of those delightful-sounding gatherings: fiction book clubs. You know, where everyone reads the same novel and then gets together at the end to discuss it? Nope. Never been part of one.

I don’t really have a specific reason for my lack of book-club membership. If pushed to come up with an excuse, I suppose I’d say that it’s not easy for me to add things to my schedule. Between my husband’s out-of-town travel, kid and family and church activities, and my general homebody-ness, I find that my calendar is usually “full enough,” and I try not to mess with it too much. [I tend to become a bit unstable when the calendar squares begin to overflow.]

But I’ll be honest: part of me would someday like to give the book club scene a try.

Right now, however, I have something that just might be even better. I’ve instituted a summer fiction book club with C., my tween. Since he shares my love for reading, and is now at that age where he reads and appreciates some of the same books I do, I decided this would be the perfect time.

To begin, we picked The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien. It’s perfect. C. has never read it, and I haven’t read it in decades years. It was one of my favorite books during my teen years, though, and I’ve been thoroughly looking forward to enjoying it once again. (Besides, Peter Jackson just started working on the movie version, which I am eagerly anticipating.)

We’re not doing the usual book club thing, where you read the entire book and then discuss it as a whole. Instead, we’ve decided to meet regularly and talk about each chapter as we read it. As you can imagine, the meetings will be frequent, but I’m not complaining. Reading a favorite novel with my tween and chatting about it regularly? That’s awesome in my book.

We had our first book club meeting last night, to discuss Chapter 1. We settled into our comfy swivel chairs (in our library, of course), and discussed Bilbo, Gandalf, and the dwarves. We talked about big themes and deep truths, amusing parts and character traits, things we can relate to and things we can’t…and that’s just in the first chapter!

C. has already read Chapter 2 (entitled Roast Mutton). I need to catch up so we can schedule our next meeting. I can’t wait!