Sandel Senior Center book club celebrates 18 years of reading

Eight members of the Sandel Senior Center’s reading club joined Ellen Berman under a gazebo, sipping on iced tea and snacking on brightly colored cookies in the August shade.

Berman, head of reference at the Rockville Centre Public Library, has visited the center each month for nearly two decades to lead the book discussions. Copies of this month’s novel, “The Lying Game,” by Ruth Ware, sat scattered around the circular clothed table in front of the readers.

“So what was the lying game?” Berman posed to the group as the first of 15 questions to discuss.

“Lies, lies, lies,” blurted out Norma Meyer, an original member of the group who formerly taught English at Wantagh junior and senior high schools. Linda Sanatar called the book “the [United Kingdom’s] version of Mean Girls.”

“I enjoy books. I like reading,” Meyer, of Rockville Centre, told the Herald. “The only problem is I read it as soon as I get the book because I can’t resist. Then two weeks go by, and by the time I come to the book club I’ve forgotten.” She added that she reviewed the book the night before to prepare for the discussion.

“It’s just wonderful,” Berman said of the program, which started 18 years ago this month. “They’re so insightful and they have so many good thoughts and ideas and it’s very, very interesting.”

The book discussion was the backdrop for side conversations and jokes between the lively participants. As a sign-in sheet was passed around the table, Bunny Wasserman, smiling, asked, “Do I have to put my legal first name?”

Linda Sanatar stared down a bee, which landed on the table in front of her, temporarily suspending the discussion. “He’s back,” she uttered softly. “I may have to kill him.”

After the group read a biographical note about the author, who was born in 1977, Rockville Centre resident Evelyn Grim pointed out that was the year she got married. Grim, a retired foreign language teacher at Bethpage High School, joined the club a few months ago, and said that though not all the events at the Sandel Center are “her cup of tea,” the book discussions are enjoyable.

“I like to inform myself about things,” she said. “I love to read, and then to discuss it with other people who have the same experience is really fun.”