Washington Post: Sunday, December 18, 2005; M02
Loud music competes with the blare of sports broadcasts from a half-dozen television sets. The crack of a stick against a cue ball at a corner pool table punctuates the laughter of a boisterous group of partygoers. But here in the middle of the Greenbelt Marriott's Pitchers Sports Bar, six guys sit oblivious to it all, engrossed in serious debate about, well, adultery.
This is a gathering of the Athenaeum men's book club, which meets monthly at College Park area bars to kick back with a brew and a bite and discuss books, from dusty classics such as Homer's "The Iliad" to the popular "The DaVinci Code." Tonight they're taking up with Hester Prynne, the Puritan bad girl from Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter."
"It's unusual, a bunch of guys reading books," says member Don Frank, an IT specialist. "So much of our time is in a superficial culture where we don't talk about things that are important. In this group, we can go deeper. It's a channel for discussion."
Biologist Mark Wimer agrees. "I love reading stuff I haven't had the time to read before, and sharing ideas with thoughtful people."
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| Rock Brockman
mixes books and brews with Marty Rabenhorst. Photo Credit: By Nate Lankford For The Washington Post |
The club began two years ago, when Matt Thomas, a technology manager, moved from Texas to Maryland. In the Longhorn State, Thomas had been a member of another Athenaeum club -- the term refers to an ancient club that studied art and literature -- and decided to start one here. Thomas has since returned to Texas, but his group remains, now a dozen men with diverse political views and occupations, ranging from a twenty-something college student to a 55-year-old salesman.
Some members socialize outside the club; others get together only at meetings. A mutual trust and respect for each other's opinions, they say, is essential to making Athenaeum work. "There's a freedom here, to be honest, to be yourself," explains Marty Rabenhorst, a University of Maryland professor.
"Yeah. We wouldn't be doing this with the McLaughlin Group," quips Dean Ahearn, editor for a Web publishing company.
Deciding to make the club all-male was not so the members could "get away from the wives," Frank says with a laugh. "It's not like we are trying to keep women out. But there are not a lot of venues for men to get together for fellowship outside the sports arena, and sports do not offer the same type of engagement as this club. We all love to be with each other and feel comfortable sharing and discussing issues in a way we might not be able to do as freely if women were present."
Other than the procedure for choosing books -- which includes nominations, initial voting, final candidates and further voting -- the group isn't big on rules. Members needn't attend all meetings, and it's okay to come without having read the book. But more often, members not only have done the reading, but arrive armed with background information, from formal commentaries to study guides.
Discourse is collegial but lively. George Orwell's "Animal Farm" generated a heated political debate but, Rabenhorst jokes, "no one came to blows."
Sometimes non-members get caught up in the discussion: During a meeting on Shakespeare's "Othello," a waiter who had just played Iago in a local production offered insights by quoting lines verbatim.
There's little chitchat about private matters. "Our personal lives are not a center of focus, but sometimes we discuss stories with respect to our own lives, see if someone relates to a book's characters," Frank says.
Starting a club is easier when there is an initial core group with preexisting ties, says marketing executive Matt Arozian. For Athenaeum, which isn't looking to add to its ranks, some original members attended the same church. "You need a few people who are comfortable with each other," says Frank. "That ends up being contagious."
Strong friendships are forged through the intellectual camaraderie. "I really like this event, studying with these guys, whom I trust," says William H. "Rock" Brockman, an insurance salesman. He once returned early from a family vacation in order to attend a club meeting.
"We can go back in time and read Thoreau, Dickens, Hawthorne," Brockman adds with obvious enthusiasm. "We can debate with some of the great minds in time about what it is to be human."
Cheryl Kenny
Recommended Reads
Below are Athenaeum's favorites, chosen by majority vote and based on the quality of the writing and the discussion the book generated:
ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner: A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of a disabled historian who researches the story of his pioneer grandparents, examining the workings of their marriage and his own. Rabenhorst: "Starts slow but an interesting theme."
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Fyodor Dostoevsky: A 19th-century Russian novel about a poor university student who commits murder and wrestles with its impact. Frank: "You get into the mind of a murderer you'd think would be purely evil, but who has a strong conscience . . . powerful."
THE DHARMA BUMS by Jack Kerouac: An autobiographical novel based on Kerouac's search for spiritual truths in mid-1950s California. Frank: "Intriguing because it's about a lifestyle we could never live, but is very appealing."
LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel: A fable of faith and survival that focuses on what takes place when an Indian teenager is left adrift with a Bengal tiger after being shipwrecked. Frank: "So believable, you actually felt you had a relationship with a tiger." Rabenhorst: "Sparked a great discussion on post-modern philosophy."
OTHELLO by William Shakespeare: A tragedy about the Moorish general and the duplicity of his trusted aide, Iago. Frank: "Fascinating -- how greed and ambition can consume you."
A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT by Norman MacLean: An autobiographical exploration of family relationships set against the rugged, natural beauty of Montana. Arozian: "The most beautifully written book in English that I've ever read."
A TALE OF TWO CITIES by Charles Dickens: The group's favorite is this classic novel of politics and passions in Paris and London during the French Revolution. Brockman: "Well crafted . . . Dickens is a master." Frank: "Like being in the middle of the French Revolution."
UNDAUNTED COURAGE: MERIWETHER LEWIS, THOMAS JEFFERSON AND THE OPENING OF THE AMERICAN WEST by Stephen E. Ambrose: A biography of Meriwether Lewis that includes excerpts from journals of Lewis and Clark. Rabenhorst: "I was captivated."
WALDEN by Henry David Thoreau: Meditative essays on the natural world and human nature itself.
Brockman: "It's remarkable, the different issues he brought up, breaking ground on some." Rabenhorst: "We found a number of interesting quotes had come from this book."
ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE: AN INQUIRY INTO VALUES by Robert M. Pirsig: An essay exploring life issues within the story of a cross-country motorcycle trip by a father and son. Arozian: "Some philosophical parts are complicated but very readable." Rabenhorst: "Philosophical, challenging -- it stretched me."
