Library patrons are now reading between the wines (and beers)

It’s the stuff of memes and movie scenes: a book club where drinking wine is the primary activity and members might or might not actually read the assigned book.

The Tenino Timberland Library’s Books & Bites is about books — truly — yet it’s also, to quote a pop-culture turn of phrase, “well red.” There’s no required reading, and it happens at Scatter Creek Winery & Brewing.

Those who attend the club — as many as 13 or so per month — aren’t literary lushes, said Sirena Painter, Tenino’s lead library assistant.

“Our group isn’t really big wine drinkers,” she said. “There are a few people who drink wine and a few who drink coffee.”

Some readers do find the club through the winery, which recently added microbrews, while others are library regulars. “We have had a variety,” she said. “There is a small core group that is there frequently, but there always seems to be a new face.”

There’s no assigned book or topic. “You can come and discuss a recent book that you’ve read that you’ve loved,” she said. “Sometimes we find ourselves all reading about the same topic. One time we were all reading nonfiction about food.”

The library encourages further exploration by sending out a newsletter listing all of the books that are discussed along with “read-alikes,” books likely to appeal to the same readers.

At the group’s last meeting, works discussed ranged from Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and Barbara Robinson’s “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” to “Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race” by Debby Irving, and “The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy” by Adrienne Mayor.

The club has been going for more than a year, meeting every month except December.

“I was always interested in having a book club at the shop,” said winery owner Andrea Keary. “I think people like that idea where you can just sit and relax and enjoy a glass of wine or beer and nibble on some munchies and bring a good book and talk about what you loved about it.

“We’re participating in a lot of fun things, and all of them have to do with some form of art,” she added.

The winery/microbrewery hosts painting parties, book signings and even yoga classes where drinking is not only welcome but encouraged.

To quote from the Facebook event for the first class, held Monday: “The combination of yoga with beer or wine can help you to more easily achieve the meditative state of mindful awareness.”

The class will be ongoing, and the $12 price includes a glass of wine, a beer or — for those with a more traditional definition of mindfulness — a nonalcoholic beverage.

The pairing of yoga and wine also is the subject of many a meme — including one showing a bottle opener in various poses and another with a yogi balancing a bottle. It’s even a trend, though many such events are structured with yoga first and wine later.

Drinking and talking seem a more natural — and less potentially messy — combo, and it’s one that’s also offered by the Olympia Timberland Library.

As in Tenino, readers attending Olympia’s Open Book Club can talk about any book they’ve read. It’s held at Le Voyeur downtown, which has both a full menu and a full bar.

To quote another meme: “My drinking club has a major book problem.”

This story was originally published January 25, 2018 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Library patrons are now reading between the wines (and beers)."