Book Club, Dubai

The Arabian dates and the club sandwiches having been consumed, tea is being poured into fine china, and the desserts trolley has been wheeled over to us by a chipper waiter for our perusal. The book club is ready to begin.

Coffee, Pastries and Books, Lobby Al Qasr, Dubai: f/1.4; 1/30sec; ISO-500

Coffee, Pastries and Books, Lobby Al Qasr, Dubai: f/1.4; 1/30sec; ISO-500

In the lobby lounge of Al Qasr, The Madinat, in Dubai, is gathered a group of six women in their 30s and 40s. Among them are a professional baker, a magazine publisher, an office manager, an executive and a writer. I am one of them – the writer. This is our inaugural meeting, each one of us slightly nervous (well who isn’t on their first date?), excited and willingly attending to meet up with strangers in hotel lobbys to talk books. The first book has not yet been set. We are all that keen anyway.

Death by Chocolate and Books, Lobby Al Qasr, Dubai: f/3.2; 1/60sec; ISO-400

Death by Chocolate and Books, Lobby Al Qasr, Dubai: f/3.2; 1/60sec; ISO-400

This month it is the requisite meet-and-greet; you know: getting to know one another with tea and scone a lovely icebreaker. However the centrepiece of our fledgling friendships will characteristically be the esteem for a good novel. Which novel? We know not yet. OK, how about a genre? Nope, no concensus on that either. What we do agree on is that once per month, we and others (after all, this is an open group and all bookworms of Dubai are welcome) participate in analysis, debate, discourse.

White Chocolate Fountain and Books, Lobby Al Qasr, Dubai: f/3.2; 1/60sec; ISO-400

White Chocolate Fountain and Books, Lobby Al Qasr, Dubai: f/3.2; 1/60sec; ISO-400

We are all new to this game, at least with each other: this kind of forceful yet friendly trading of literary passions. All six ladies express great joy in having hunted down one another (which by the way occured over social media exclusively, the wonders of the modern world that we live in). It is now time to pin down the genre. Next, the book.

Stay tuned for the next instalment of Life in the Book Club, through the eyes of its founding members, the Babes for Book Club, Dubai

www.facebook.com/BabesForBookClubDubai

 

 

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