Well, somewhere along the way she learned to type, enough to write Not a Happy Camper at least, but she never lost the sense of humor. This book is a memoir that any camp veteran will love. But then maybe someone can explain why I, who never went to camp, found it just as much fun. Mindy is someone who should be invited to book clubs who love to laugh --- at themselves and at life. Read on for what she has to say...
It's always such an odd thing to meet people who've read your book and like it. What if you disappoint them in person? So far I've been hearing that I'm exactly the way people imagined I'd be. So is that a good thing?Recently I had the pleasure of being the guest of the Rough Draft Book Club, a group of women from La Canada, California, who met at a cafe in nearby Montrose. Really nice women I'd be happy to include among my friends. And my salad was pretty good, too.
Right away I was asked if I get tired of hearing other people's camp stories and the answer is, "Absolutely not!" I love hearing about similar experiences as well as the ones that were even more surprising than mine. For instance, one member talked about spending her summers on a relative's farm with twenty-five kids. Since showering was a major ordeal, they'd often board a truck and go rinse off under a man-made irrigation waterfall adjacent to a cow pasture. Without soap. Made my camp sound luxurious by comparison.
Most of the women in this group are not Jewish yet had no trouble relating to the book as many summer camps have some sort of religious orientation and rituals. I'd wondered about that when I was writing it, and I'm pleased to know my brief explanations (after mentioning challah, I added that it was the traditional braided egg bread, etc.) sufficed without boring those who already knew the details. One club member even mentioned that although she's not Jewish her son goes to a kosher camp just to be with his best friend. No mixing meat and milk? No cheeseburgers for the whole summer? That's a true friend.
We all agreed that the mattresses at camp were horrifying, but none of us thought about it until years later. Apparently, today they're pretty nice, but is it really camp if you're not suffering a little?
One of the Rough Draft members, as well as a former college professor of mine with whom I keep in touch, suggested I read Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum's A Day of Small Beginnings, so after lunch I went across the street to my favorite book store, Once Upon a Time, and ordered a copy. The owner of this beautiful little shop, Maureen Palacios, hosted my first book reading in June of 2007.
Incidentally, I'll be speaking at Once Upon a Time on Tuesday, August 12th, when their book club meets. Thanks to Maureen, my paperback has actually sold out there! Yet another reason I love that place.
What is your favorite summer camp memory? Share it in the comments section here or in the guestbook at not-a-happy-camper.com.
---Mindy Schneider
