A cool event at the Bagdad theater on Monday, The First Rule of Book Club meets first at the Backstage Bar off Hawthorne to discuss a book, then moves to the Bagdad Theater to watch the film adaptation. So it's a book club and a film club. (Which is cool cause like every book ever has been made into a movie. Seriously. I heard David Fincher's next project is adapting Finnegan's Wake.)

Founder Nico Bella organizes special events for the Bagdad and Backstage. The club was first conceived while she was living in Los Angeles. Now a resident of Portland, working for the Bagdad presented an opportunity to resurrect the event. Nico "pairs the books with a film screening because as a reader and a devotee of movies it is fascinating to me what can be translated and (what is lost/gained) from the page to the moving visual. For the most part we stick to books where the film was a great rendition of the book."

Monday's book/movie is The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. It's an excellent read and pretty easy to finish in a weekend. The schedule for 2011 is filled with awesome book/movie selections including American Psycho, L.A. Confidential, and a kids edition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in July.

More details on their social network page.