KAILUA — It was a quiet Tuesday evening, and the conversation in one Kailua home was getting livelier by the minute.

About 20 women gathered in the spacious living room, chatting and laughing, some with dessert plates balancing on their knees.

What brought these former teachers, military wives, grandmothers, volunteers and community advocates together?

Their love of reading.

The women all belong to the Windward American Association of University Women's book club, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last month.

There was no catered dinner party or live entertainment to mark the occasion.

Instead, the women celebrated with haupia cake and a spirited discussion of Bruce Feiler's "Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan."

For generations, women have come up with reasons to get together — and leave husbands and children at home. They've thrown Tupperware parties, recipe exchanges and Avon sales meetings.

It's hard to say when book clubs became so popular in recent years, especially among women. Some credit the creation 10 years ago of Oprah's Book Club, which vaulted little-known authors onto national best-seller lists and made it hip to browse bookstores on Friday nights.

VALUED FRIENDS

Most often these book clubs serve a larger purpose than just analyzing the latest best-seller.

These clubs create micro-communities and connections in an increasingly impersonal world.

Hazel Rand, 69, moved to Hawai'i from Maine three years ago after her husband, Robert, died of heart problems.

Lonely and devastated by the loss, Rand moved in with her son and daughter-in-law in Kailua, worried about starting over in a new place.

"Oh, it was difficult, no question about it," said Rand, who taught middle-school English for 30 years. "I don't paint well, I don't write well. But boy, I love meeting people. I can talk to almost anybody and love it."

Rand doesn't remember how she got invited to the Windward AAUW book club meeting in March 2005. But she's glad she went. The book club satisfied her curious mind and her need to read, and Rand made friendships that she values.

"I didn't just pick any book club," Rand told the group of women at the anniversary meeting. "I picked the best one."

ALL TOPICS CONSIDERED

Alta Bento, 81, is one of the club's few remaining original members. She rarely misses a meeting.

After moving to O'ahu in the early '50s, Bento joined the AAUW to make friends. At that time the association was comprised of young women with children. They met regularly for monthly dinners.

It wasn't until September 1966 that the Kailua chapter of AAUW started a book club. Bento, who grew up in Elbertson, Alberta, a voracious reader, quickly signed up.

"My whole family loved to read, absolutely," said Bento, a former teacher and grandmother of five. "That was always the birthday present, a book."

At first the book club had about a dozen women. The first book they read and discussed was Washington Irving's "Knickerbocker's History of New York."

Over the next four decades, membership in the book club grew —and so did the reading list. The women read everything from best-sellers to classics, from poetry to Shakespearean plays.

And no subject is taboo, either.

They've read about drug abuse in Jay McInerny's "Bright Lights, Big City," racism and violence in Lois-Ann Yamanaka's "Blu's Hanging" and mental illness and dysfunctional families in Wally Lamb's "This Much I Know is True."

"Nothing is off-limits," Bento said.

NO SMALL TALK

After the women settled on who would be hosting the next book club meeting, the discussion about Bruce Feiler's novel began.

Books in tow, they sat in a circle on couches and chairs, eagerly awaiting their chance to analyze the text.

Jill Stewart of Kailua led the discussion, starting with background on the author and his book. Then she asked the group to throw out questions.

"If what you read doesn't provoke questions, you're not interacting with the material," Stewart said to them. "Questions are important."

What did you learn about Japan from reading this book?

How did the author present the country's educational system?

Did you feel the descriptions were authentic?

Did you think the author was judgmental?

The women debated and discussed, often sharing their personal experience in Japan with the rest of the group.

For about an hour, they talked about the country's educational practices, about stereotypes, about the pressure to succeed, about cultural differences — not small talk, but meaty topics discussed between pupu and dessert.

It's why, the members say, the club has been around for so long.

"It's important for women ... to have something in their lives besides just their jobs and families," Rand said. "We have to stay alive in our heads. That intellectual stimulation is what I needed ... and what I love about (this group)."