Gals and Books
GAB (Gals and Books) has been meeting for more than 10 years and started at the Plano Bible Church in Plano. Members are from the congregation, and friends and family.
We generally read Christian fiction, although once or twice we have deviated from that genre.
We meet monthly in each other's homes or at local restaurants. The group has about 25 members but generally 10-12 attend each meeting.
Everyone is encouraged to come whether they have read the book or not. But if you are only partway through the book, watch out — you might find out something you hadn't discovered yet in your reading! Spoilers allowed.
We start off by visiting until we are sure everyone has arrived. Then we spend at least an hour and maybe more discussing the book and going over discussion questions. We finish the evening with dessert and more general conversation.
One of the first books we read was "The Church Ladies" by Lisa E. Samson, and that was a big hit with everyone. It was funny, with a good message. And Samson has turned out to be one of the favorite authors of the group.
Other favorites include "Women's Intuition," also by Samson, "The Sister Circle" by Vonette Bright and Nancy Moser, "June Bug" by Chris Fabry and "Refiner's Fire" by Sylvia Bambola.
"The Preservationist" by David Maine was universally disliked. The language was very offensive, and the setting and story line were rather crude.
We met Vinita Hampton Wright, who wrote "Velma Still Cooks in Leeway," just after our group had read it. Last year Valerie Weaver-Zercher visited our group and "picked our brains" about Amish fiction, as she is writing a book on that subject.
We would most like to meet Lynn Austin, a hands-down favorite. Some of the questions we might ask her would be how she gets her ideas, does she have staff to help in her research (which is so well done) and how does she balance other responsibilities with those of researching and writing.
We would also like to meet Maine, the author of "The Preservationist." Although many in the group did not like this book, there were those who still felt they gained an interesting perspective of Noah by reading it and would like to ask the author what possessed him to approach the book from the vantage point that he did.
Up next: "Gone to Ground" by Brandilyn Collins, "Heart Echoes" by Sally John and "Redeeming Waters" by Vanessa Davis Griggs.