The origin of Calcopo!

Calcopo. I can still remember the first time that it was mentioned out loud at the branch. We were checking in books and were talking about the book we were reading for that month's book group and someone in the back picked up on our conversation. They expressed interest in joining in. Couldn't blame them as we had so much fun. We always went out to eat, grabbed some dessert, talked late into the evening. But you pulled me aside and made it very clear to me that that our group was a two person affair. It was your special time and that was that. What kind of man would want to fight that kind of logic? And besides, I liked it the way it was.

At first we met when we could, more on the phone or through emails. News from Paraguay was our first book, something I discovered while I was shelving books, a title with two copies, something with clout. You didn't care for it much then tasked me with reading The Life of Pi. What you loved the most was that I pulled the fundamental quote out of the middle of that book and sent it along to you:

"Lack imagination and miss the better story"

Needless to say that was the kind of magic that we worked with those books. We went back and forth with titles we pulled from here and there, a Debbie Macomber one month, The Persian Pickle Club another. Some titles were beyond special, like the time we read The Time Traveler's Wife. Others, like the Lord of the Rings and The Maltese Falcon, were titles I read and passed along to you but never really jelled in our group setting.

We finally hit our stride in late winter, with Five Quarters of the Orange and This House of Sky. We packed two meetings in one month, culminating in our day long outing to Tacoma that was the end and the highlight of our bookgroup.

But Calcopo lives on, if only in name. And what was that name all about, anyway? It was a blend of places, an acronym that represented and suited us: Cal for California, Co for Colorado and PO for Port Orchard. The rest of the handle was Forest to the Sea Book Discussion Group. A very private affair, yes indeed.

Not that we were entirely private. Hell, darlin', sometimes we were so public that the world blushed. Not only joined in but felt happy for the love, and the book lust, we shared.

Love, Your WHMB