Book Clubs: Nice Idea But Do I Join?
Posted by Tina K at 6/12/2008 10:21 PM and is filed under uncategorized 
I've decided to test out Booking Through Thursday, a book and reading themed weekly meme. As with all memes, I will play or not play at will on a week to week basis.
Each week, Booking Through Thursday provides a question for discussion. I love a question. I could go on for days with a good prompt.
This week we are talking about book clubs:
Have you ever been a member of a book club? How did your group choose (or, if you haven’t been, what do you think is the best way to choose) the next book and who would lead discussion?
Do you feel more or less likely to appreciate books if you are obliged to read them for book groups rather than choosing them of your own free will? Does knowing they are going to be read as part of a group affect the reading experience?
I have never been a part of a formal book club where everyone gets a copy of the book, then meets for appetizers and wine to discuss. The first reason is the I do not have a large enough social circle to have much of a party. I've never sent out Halloween invitations. In fact, I've never had more than three guests at my place at any one time.
If I had the opportunity to join a formal book club, I would give it a whirl. What I would be worried about is that the other members either wouldn't be in it for the books. As is clear from my blog categories (44 entries under "books" to date), I not only love to read, I want to share about books. I would want a book club meeting to be more like an English class than a social event, with passionate discussions and analysis.
There is an episode of King of the Hill where Peggy buys a book store in order to get an invite to join a book club full of upper middle class women. When Peggy and Hank go to the party, no one else has read the book. Peggy is considered a bore when she tries to discuss literary themes. It's hard to tell if the club members' motivation for telling Peggy the event was the last ever meeting of the book club. I can imagine myself in a book club with similar results.
That being said, I think book choices should be made based on common interests. Every member should want to read the book. I would avoid massive best sellers, think Da Vinci Code. What hasn't been said about a book that crosses into pop culture phenomenon?
Discussions should be lead by whoever is most comfortable. If more than one member wants the spot, it should be rotated. Most discussion should flow around the group rather than strict leader lead discussion.
Rather than thinking less of a book I was reading for a book club, I think I would be more mindful of the details. I would make notes of major ideas instead of letting them wash over me as I read. Otherwise, I'd go the the meeting with nothing to say.
The one place I get the experience of a "book club" is sharing books with Mom and my best friend Kate. Lots of the books I read come from the two of them. When Mom mails books from Seattle, I pass Kate the ones she is interested in. It's exciting to read a book knowing you'll have a like-minded reader to discuss the book with when you're done.
Overall, I think like-minded readers are the key to a happy book club. Even if you don't have a club or more than one copy of the book, sharing the love of books is always a good idea.
Book clubs take a lot of time. I only participated in one once which was just for the summer and only for one group f women at our church that read and discussed "Redeeming Love." It was a good experience but I would only want to participate in a group providing it was reading a book I was really interested in.
That's why www.shelfari is such a great site for readers. There's people who you can find that have read the books you do and are willing to discuss them. There are just tons and tons of discussion groups, the most popular being "Book Chat." Before starting blogging, I spent hours on this site!
It's also a great way to keep track of what books you've read and share them with others. I much prefer this to a "book club."
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Shelfari is on my bloggy to do list. I've been trying to participate in more forums and such beyond the "blogger" one's I have been focusing on the last year or so.
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