The February assignment was simple: “Read a pink book.” For Valentine’s Day. But which pink book? “Any pink book!” exclaimed Krystal Lange, laughing. “I don’t care if it’s Dr. Seuss!”
So began the first official meeting of the Boulder Community Library’s new book club. It was the first formal gathering of book lovers since the pandemic killed off such community events, and much attending joy, five years ago.
This group is different than the one that hastily disbanded in 2020. Most notably, it is younger – mostly, young mothers. Librarian Heidi Oetken says the core of the club found each other more or less organically at meetings of the library’s after-school Tinker Labs and Lego Club programs for school kids. There, they began talking about the books they loved.
And the books they really loved, it emerged, were the “Empyrean” series of sci-fi/romance/thriller novels by Rebecca Yarros, aimed at women of a certain age. Their age. Excited conversation turned into friendships — and a desire to talk more.
So, on Feb. 13, at the first of what will become monthly affairs, Lange and four of her reader peers gathered to discuss books — each with very different types of genres and plots, but all having title covers featuring pink.
Ashley McCauley began the discussion by talking about “Happy Place,” a novel by Emily Henry. McCauley provided the group with a brief plot synopsis, describing the story as a “bubblegum romance.” “It’s really just a simple brain break,” McCauley told the circle.
McCauley also noted that the book was “safe” to read around her family. “It’s very subtle,” she said. “No need to hide the cover on this one.”
Others piled on. One pink book involved a romance between serial killers. Another was a historical account of a young woman growing up in western Montana during the territorial period.
The readers described the stories and their feelings about the effect the words had on them, either recommending the books or explaining why they had problems with them. Many of the opinions that were expressed were shared by others in the group.
For instance, there was a general dislike of audio books, mostly because narrators often change between volumes of book series. “It just gets confusing,” Caitlin Parke complained. “You get used to the way [the book] is read in the first edition, and then they change it for the later ones.” Everyone agreed, and also decided they were fonder of some audio book readers than others.
Lange discussed her read, “Butcher & Blackbird” by Brynne Weaver, which she described as a humorous but grisly tale about a romance between two competing serial killers. “It’s good, not really gory,” Lange told the group. “But it sure is a wild ride!”
The February meeting lost a couple of members to weather conditions – and perhaps to not having finished the reading assignment. The group voted to move their meetings to Wednesday nights, allowing more time for discussion than the one-hour Thursday night slot.
They’ve already agreed that the assignment for March will be “Onyx Storm,” the third entry in Yarros’ series. “It’s sort of a ‘romance-tasy,’” Oetken explained.
And for April: A book with a yellow cover. Any yellow book will do.
