Book Club

BUSINESS DOW -2.40 12,565.53 NASDAQ +8.10 2,451.31 S&P +4.13 1,430.50 SUN INDEX +1.97 365.46 NATIONAL High court handles finance law The Supreme Court set the stage yesterday for striking down a part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that bars the broadcast of corporate- and union-funded ads just before an election. pg 3A Ney sentenced to 30 months Former Rep. Bob Ney became yesterday the second former member of the House of Representatives to draw a prison term for his role in recent lobbying scandals.

I hesitate to admit this in polite company, but if I didn't listen to books, I wouldn't read at all. I have a daily commute that is almost an hour in each direction and for many years have spent the rest of my time driving kids hither and yon. During that time, I bet I "read" 500 books. Books that I would not have had the time nor the inclination to read if I had had consumption or two broken legs. I used to keep a numbered list of all the titles (another thing I shouldn't be admitting)

On a Tuesday night, about a dozen people have taken refuge from the cold in a Fells Point restaurant to discuss a 1970s book by a dissident Czech writer. Some in the group hadn't quite made it all the way through The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, by Milan Kundera. But that doesn't stop them from debating whether they should laugh or maybe cry about this tale of a communist Czechoslovakia now vanished into history. Oprah Winfrey may have put book clubs in the news, but while she has been creating best-sellers and taking James Frey to task for making up stories, Maryland book clubs ranging from the Dear Sisters Book Club of Upper Marlboro to the Ruth Enlow Libraries in Garrett County, have long been quietly selecting, dissecting and endorsing their favorite reads.

On recent evening, Margaret Cooper led a book discussion on The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. "Raise your hand if you enjoyed the book," said Cooper, the children's librarian at the Elkridge library branch. Everyone raised a hand. Then Cooper started asking questions. "Why did Despereaux's father and the Mouse Council feel that Despereaux was a danger to the whole mouse community?" Cooper asked. Several hands flew up. "Because they heard he was born with his eyes open, and he had big ears," replied Jeffrey Tilley, 7, of Elkridge.

Outside, it's a cold November night. But inside Karen Arnold's Columbia living room, there is warmth and conversation.Members of the Second Wednesday book club, some holding small plates of cheese and fruit and others sipping tea, are listening to Aline Feldman discuss "The Antelope Wife" by Louise Erd-rich.Feldman, an artist who is leader of this month's meeting, reads a brief biography of Erdrich and then shares excerpts from books about Native American storytelling."What I'm trying to do is get you to see she is writing in an Indian fashion, and that's something we're not used to," she says to the 10 other members in the room.

Talking about books has made talking about life, and its trouble spots, a little easier for pupils and adults at Maryvale Preparatory School.Through the school's Mother-Daughter Book Club, middle-schoolers, their mothers and teachers have found that opening a book has often meant opening their minds as well, leading to discussions they might not have had -- on such issues as violence, body image, sibling rivalry, isolation, and friendships gone sour.Started...

Move over, Oprah. Now Reba has a book club -- and a role in a national literacy organization.Country singer Reba McEntire has become national spokeswoman for First Book, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that works with local literacy groups to provide new books and tutoring to needy children.Along with that role, there is Reba's First Book Club, a national program intended to "encourage children and their families to discover the magic of books, as well as help raise funds to buy new books for homeless and disadvantaged children across America."

SPRING IS JUST around the corner, despite our recent reminders of winter.Carrolltowne Elementary School has planned "Spring Fling '99" to celebrate and to raise funds for its playground.The school has been working for the past two years to raise money to replace aging and unsafe playground equipment and is hoping that the proceeds from Spring Fling '99 will enable it to purchase and install the new equipment.Spring Fling '99 will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the school. The event will feature family games for minimal cost, and food and bake tables, cake walks and Beanie Baby walks.

NEW YORK -- "Waiting," by Ha Jin, a novel set in contemporary China about a man struggling with the conflicting claims of two women, won the National Book Award for fiction last night.The winner for nonfiction was "Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II" (W. W. Norton & Company/The New Press) by John W. Dower, about the transformation of Japan into a democracy under American occupation. The poetry prize went to the dramatic monologues about urban life in "Vice: New and Selected Poems" (W. W. Norton & Company)

Intellectual and cultural curiosities are being entertained over hot fudge sundaes in a parlor side room in Hampden, where Mary Pat Clarke leads 30 women in a discussion of Zora Neale Hurston's novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God."This Baltimore tableau -- which took place Tuesday night -- is part of a larger and flourishing phenomenon reaching as far as Miami and Los Angeles: the monthly book club. It's a thing of the busy '90s as surely as the twist was a creature of the swinging '60s.They have fun names, too, like the Sunday Evening Chocolate Society and Between the Lines.

The East Columbia 50+ center will sponsor an "Older American Celebration" May 7 (not May 5, as previously announced) at the center in the east Columbia branch library building, 6600 Cradlerock Way. A reception is planned from 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. A jazz concert by the Carl Grubbs Ensemble and free refreshments, provided by Zeta Alpha Sigma Chapter Inc. of the Columbia Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., will be offered from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Reservations are...

Over the past week, we've been discussing book club breakups. I'd bet that most clubs have lived through some variation of this trauma: the member who drops out suddenly or shows up less and less, the group that collapses entirely. The discussion began when reporter Mary Carole McCauley made her first appearance on Read Street and wrote about leaving her club. She had participated for a few years, but when several favorite members moved away, she took a hard look at the demands of a club.

The Elkridge library, 6540 Washington Blvd., will hold a meeting of its Elks Parent-Teen Book Club for youngsters ages 11 to 17 and their parents from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. The book to be discussed is Cheaper by the Dozen, by Frank B. Gilbreth. The 1950 movie based on the book will be shown at 6 p.m. Registration is not needed. Information: 410-313-5077. The Miller branch library's Tween Book Club, for middle-schoolers ages 11-13, will meet from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 27. The book is American Born Chinese, by Gene Yang.

Polo match benefits charity The Lewis family (Dr. Fred and Mary Agnes Lewis and their children) will present the third annual Ten Oaks Cup Polo Match from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the family's farm, 6005 Ten Oaks Road, in Clarksville. Proceeds from the event will benefit Our Daily Bread, the Baltimore soup kitchen. Gates open at noon. The national anthem will be sung on horseback. Two teams will play a full match (about 11/2 hours) and a half-time event includes riding without reins.

With people in white lab coats and nametags around a conference table, it wasn't your typical wine-and-cheese book club. The topic at Mercy Medical Center this particular evening was battlefield medicine. Dan Collins, director of media relations at the Baltimore hospital, was talking about the dismaying number of injured and killed in Iraq. Karen Arnold, the book club's facilitator, offered that survival rates were improving. And Sister Carole Rybicki noted the level of dedication to care on display.

Hammond Elementary School will hold its Spring Garage Sale from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. The rain date is May 4. Anyone with gently used goods is invited to reserve a space to sell. Forms to reserve space are available at the school or online at www.hespta.org/garage-sale.html. The school is on Aladdin Drive, off Gorman Road. Information: Cathy Barrett, 301-604-1971. Music society plans benefit The Ebony Classical Music Society will hold its fifth annual benefit Spring Concert at 4 p.m. May 4 at Christ Episcopal Church, 6800 Oakland Mills Road.

Author and bookstore owner Carl Weber says the idea for his latest book, Something on the Side, came from watching an episode of HBO's Sex and the City. "I decided to write a plus-sized version of the show," says Weber, 41, who recently appeared at a book signing at the Catonsville Wal-Mart. His primary readership of black women enjoys his humorous drama-filled spins on everyday life. Released in January, Something on the Side reached The New York Times best-sellers list. Weber also has had other works appear on that list, including The First Lady and So You Call Yourself a Man. Weber's latest book revolves around the adventurous lives of six women from the Big Girls Book Club, a group for plus-sized women, who are at least a size 14. Weber says this is a demographic that gravitates to his books.

The Jane Austen Book Club is a movie ready-made for a cinema subdivision of Oprah's Book Club. Just consider the potential: This contemporary comedy-drama of five women and a man analyzing one Austen novel each month would foment discussion of six Austen books and Karen Joy Fowler's witty 2004 novel (also called The Jane Austen Book Club), along with such standby talk-show topics as infidelity and female friendship. An Oprah Winfrey-brand phenomenon would have to be more provocative than the lulling movie writer-director Robin Swicord has made from Fowler's peppy, humorous pastiche.

I hesitate to admit this in polite company, but if I didn't listen to books, I wouldn't read at all. I have a daily commute that is almost an hour in each direction and for many years have spent the rest of my time driving kids hither and yon. During that time, I bet I "read" 500 books. Books that I would not have had the time nor the inclination to read if I had had consumption or two broken legs. I used to keep a numbered list of all the titles (another thing I shouldn't be admitting)

Carroll County Public Library branches are offering a variety of summer activities for all ages. Upcoming programs include: Eldersburg, 6400 W. Hemlock Drive: Summer arts and crafts, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and Aug. 22; Mummies for ages 7 to 10, 2 p.m. Thursday; Craft Club for adults, 1 p.m. Saturday; Games, Games, Games for ages 7 to 13, 1:30 p.m. Aug. 20; Family Game Night, 7 p.m. Aug. 21; Three Billy Goats Road Trip Puppet Show, 9:45 a.m. and...