We have officially kicked off the Jane Green Book Club with a party (and lots of wine!). Eighty women gathered together in Parker Mansion, in my home town of Westport, Connecticut, to toast this exciting new venture.

So why start a nationwide virtual book club? Because wherever we live, I think we are all going through the same thing…

When I first moved to suburbia, almost seventeen years ago, there were so many resources for the young yummy mommy. There were playgroups, and playdates, and meetings and classes. There were even mommy book clubs. I met my first friends here standing outside the doors of pre-school, waiting for the children to emerge. As time went by and our children went off to different schools, I saw those wonderful women less. Between working and raising those children, life got busier and busier, until suddenly those children are in high school and getting ready to leave, and my friends are nowhere to be found.

That last bit is not quite true, but what is true is that most of the women I know, myself included, are leading lives that are far more isolated than we ever expected. Age, stage, the busy-ness of life, and perhaps most of all, technology, have all contributed to a growing sense of loneliness. Many of us are hiding behind screens, iphones and ipads, instead of getting out and living life.

But My Life Is Too Busy To Join The Jane Green Book Club!

Someone once told me that after the age of forty, you can divide your life into three sections: family, friends, and work. But you can only ever successfully juggle two. For many of us, it is our friendships that get short shrift, even though as human beings, we need connection; we are built for connection; we long to connect.

Which is what the Jane Green Book Club is all about. Bringing women together over the love of a shared story, to share their own stories. It’s about community, connection, and looking after each other. All in the name of a good book. All you have to do to join is sign up by clicking the link on this page: Jane Green Book Club, and join us there on November 16th. You can join us by yourself, or – even better – invite some friends over and form a book club. We’ll all be reading the same book together!

How Does The Jane Green Book Club Work?

What makes the Jane Green Book Club different? Not only do we choose the book every month, but we also bring you the authors, live on Facebook video, so wherever you live, you can ask them your questions directly! During every book club, you can livestream the author and type your questions!

Here we have some pictures from our launch, from the wonderful women there (I wish I could share the incredible warmth that filled that room), to putting the kits together at my kitchen table, to the finished sample book club kit.

The book club kit will make the life of the busy woman easier – when you have 10-15 women coming over from book club and you have no time to shop, what could be better than coming home and finding a beautiful box filled with delicious goodies and treats, and some of my favorite things to make your home cozy and beautiful – a place where everyone feels good.

Do you know anyone who hosts a book club who might like one of these boxes? If so, tag them on the Jane Green Book Club page, underneath this same post!

Don’t forget, our first book club is 8pm (EST) live on the Jane Green Book Club Facebook page with Tom Perrotta who will be discussing his wonderful book (and our first book club choice), Mrs Fletcher! Like and follow the page to get all the updates, and sign up for the newsletter on that page to make sure you don’t miss anything!

I am beginning to realize that this column is becoming something of a confessional for me. Whenever I behave badly, I find myself writing it down without thinking too much about it. I now think perhaps my column ought to be renamed something along the lines of “Misadventures of a Menopausal Woman.”

This week, I have mostly been behaving well. Apart from one teensy, weensy, minor slip. It is regatta season again, and I was in charge of the food at last week’s regatta. The weather was going to be beautiful, we were expecting a huge crowd, and I planned my menu accordingly.

Some of you may remember that last season, a rowing mother took me aside to complain bitterly that my pancakes tasted of onion. Onion pancakes have now become something of an in-joke at the rowing club, and because I am a menopausal woman and I seem to have lost the ability to let anything go, I decided to add onion pancakes to the menu. This time, intentionally.

I sautéed a bunch of sliced onions with garlic, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, a pinch of cayenne pepper and a little brown sugar. I cooled them, then stirred in ricotta cheese, and added the entire mixture to a pancake mix (1 cup flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 tablespoons sugar, ½ teasoon salt mixed together, add in a beaten egg, 1 cup milk, 2 tablespoons melted butter. Stir until combined), with a heavy sprinkling of turmeric to turn them into a golden yellow. I fried them in olive oil, and they were fluffy, and spicy, and sweet, and utterly delicious.

Sadly, the woman who complained about the onion pancakes to begin with, wasn’t there, so I shall just have to make them again.

Onion pancakes aside, I was behaving quite well, and even managed to put up with the mansplaining. This is a very peculiar trope I have noticed in America – all men think they are expert grillmasters, even when they are terrible cooks, and understand nothing about seasoning, or indeed food. Some men I know truly are excellent grillmasters. My usual co-grillmaster who works with me when I do the regattas, is an extraordinarily gifted cook, who has taught me tremendous things about meat.

But there are a few men at this regatta who regularly elbow me out the way to take over the grill. They don’t actually say: “move over, l’il lady,” but I can hear them think it. One of them always lurks and comments on what I’m cooking with things like, “Oh, interesting. I never add salt to anything. I find most people don’t like salt.” I have taken to giving him withering stares in the hopes he will disappear.

This week, the mansplainers were up in arms over my grilled cheese sandwiches. Instead of butter on the outside, I used mayonnaise. Because it’s an emulsion, the oils in the mayonnaise stick to the food, and cause a Maillard reaction, turning the bread a rich golden brown. It works far better than butter, and you cannot taste the mayonnaise, but that was not good enough for the Mansplainers. They shook their heads in horror and muttered to each other about the mayo, as I felt my irritation rise.

I considered giving them a science lesson as every good menopausal woman should do, until I thought better of it. I had had my fun with the onion pancakes. It was time to call it a day.