Last week, I wrote a review for The Merriest Misters, and I plan on going back to that and amending it after this, but tonight I wanted to write a separate post talking about that book and the wonderful experience that book clubs bring. Namely, different perspectives. On Monday, the romance book club met to discuss The Merriest Misters, and we were joined (via zoom) by the author Timothy Janovsky himself. We had a great conversation and touched on many different things, a lot of them very important, but it especially brought to mind that I read this book with a very different perspective and bias than the author and, it turns out, quite a few people in the book club.
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romance book club with author Timothy Janovsky
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Now, I will admit time and again that I am not primarily a romance reader, and I'm picky about the genre. So, as a result, I know that a lot of romance books aren't going to be "for me" for whatever reason. Additionally, since I'm not a big romance reader, the nuances of a well-written romance story may escape me, especially when the characters' story doesn't resemble my own experiences at all. I'm not talking romance-wise here (the complete lack of romance in my life would disqualify me from identifying with any romance character if that were the case) but rather life experiences based on race, gender, sexuality, ability, culture, family dynamic, and so on. I'm privileged in some ways (white, grew up in a two parent household until I was 15, fairly able-bodied at this point of my life) and not in others (a host of mental illnesses, queer, my father died when I was 15). I love reading and discussing books with others because they open me up to those other experiences that don't resemble my own, but sometimes I still get hung up on what I expect, with my experiences shaping my view.
