Page Turners: Cruise directors keep "Tale Chasers" afloat

Sandra Mathew spent the last six years as "cruise director" for a book club.

Huh?

Yes, that's right, until she turned over the title to Jenn Jackson for 2009, Mathew functioned as the Julie McCoy of "Tale Chasers," a book club that has consistently met on land, these days at Chuck's Steak House in Danbury.

So, why was the meeting organizer referred to as the cruise director?

"I don't know. It just happened," Mathew said. "Someone said I was like Julie McCoy from The Love Boat.' Maybe because of my organizational skills. I would get extravagant with the themes."

Members live in area towns, among them Newtown and New Milford, and one member resides in Waterbury. Most members work at Boehringer Ingelheim in Ridgefield, although some members joined as a result of their friendship with one or more of the colleagues. About eight or nine attend meetings regularly.

Mathew explained a bit about the club in a recent e-mail. "My book club has a personality of its own. "Tale Chasers" was created about six years ago during a happy hour at Rosy Tomorrows in Danbury and I fast became the "cruise director."

"A bunch of my friends were talking about the books we read in high school and how we discussed them in class. Then we got the idea to start our own book club, but with a twist. We decided to have the meetings every two months on a Friday night (monthly meetings seemed too overwhelming since we all work full-time and didn't have that much time to read).

"As time went on, we developed a set of by-laws' (yes, by-laws) such as no men allowed' and what is discussed at book club STAYS at book club' (a la Vegas).

"We also allowed each member one bye session' per year, which means if a member didn't have time to read the book but still needed a night out, they were welcome to attend. We developed cuisine themes around each book. When we discussed The Nanny Diaries' by Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin, everyone brought their favorite martini to the meeting. When we discussed Good in Bed,' by Jennifer Weiner, we all wore pajamas/slippers to the meeting [some members even wore them while driving]. When we read Angels and Demons,' by Dan Brown, we served angel food cake and devil's food cake for dessert.

"Although we don't meet at houses anymore (we meet at Chuck's Steak House instead, being waited on by our favorite waiter, named Rock) and members have come and gone, we have continued to enhance the book club experience. We have had the honor of hosting two published authors to discuss their books with us.

"And we just recently read the manuscript of an unpublished author looking for feedback on his first novel. He said our comments were invaluable to him and he greatly appreciated our slings and arrows.' We would like to offer this kind of service to other unpublished authors as the experience was very fulfilling for both sides."

Jackson, the club's current cruise director, mentioned two authors who have visited the club as guest speakers. Elizabeth Cunningham of upstate New York, author of The Maeve Chronicles books, has visited the club several times. Sophronia Scott of Newtown, author of "All I Need to Get By," has also attended a Tale Chasers meeting.

Jackson approaches reading from a writer's perspective. In her family, it's become somewhat of a tradition, as her grandfather and father have also been writers. It was her father, Brian McIlrath, who shared his as-yet-unpublished manuscript with the "Tale Chasers."

Of critiquing manuscripts, Jackson said, "Each of us at book club has a different reason to read: for enjoyment, to break it down, to learn. We're very giving and light-hearted, we want to make it better and be constructive."

Those by-laws Mathew referred to include a few other guidelines, such as, if less than four members can attend a meeting, the meeting is cancelled, and no book talk until all the members are seated. But there's no need to fret over penalties, as long as transgressors can stand a little teasing.

"It's all in fun," Mathew said. "Members know the by-laws, so if they come to more than one meeting without reading the book, they know to hang their head in shame."

Authors with completed manuscripts seeking constructive criticism from the club may contact Jackson via e-mail at Jenn_Ja@comcast.net.

To have your book club featured in "Page Turners," send an e-mail to cmueller@newstimes.com with the subject line book club. Please include a daytime phone number at which you can be reached.
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