An interview with Pam Everett, founding member of Food for Thoughts book club.

What book are members reading? For our December meeting, we're having a Christmas get-together. The book we're reading now will be for [a discussion in] February, and that is Waiting by Ha Jin. Some months we do something other than read a book. Now for January, we're going to watch a video: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. I haven't read [the book]. One member read it, and she said it was good. But she thought we'd enjoy the video more; hence we're watching the video.

How many months out of the year do you read a book? Oh, nine or 10.

Has your club had a book discussion that really stood out since you began four years ago? One book we read some time ago was an old classic, Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham. It's a very well-known book that goes back, perhaps 60 years. It happened to be a book that most of the members did not like, but ... it caused a very stimulating conversation. ... It was a very philosophical book about a character who had a clubfoot, and it seemed to dominate his life. ... Some people did not like the author's slant on the subject, others did not like the protagonist himself, and a couple of us really got a great deal out of the book.

What are the demographics of your club? We are a small group, six people, all of whom live in Columbia. Two of us are retired. Four are professional people.

Do you meet monthly? Yes, we meet monthly, and our title Food for Thoughts is because we start our meetings off with dinner. We rotate dinners at each member's house.