ReadingGroupGuides.com

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

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Dawn Goodman of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina shares her group's unique style of creating a book club in which the focus is always on the book.

Q. Does your group have a name? How long has your group been in existence?
A. Yes --- Chapter 9 Book Club. The name, Chapter 9, is a spin-off of Title 9. (Title IX being the law which ensures equality regardless of gender in federal funded programs.) Our group has been meeting since 1994.

Q. How many members do you have? What's the gender and age breakdown?
A. We have 11 members, all women. Our bylaws limit our membership to 12. We've never discussed age, but our children's ages range from in-utero to twentysomething.

Q. How often and where do you meet?
A. We meet every third Tuesday. Our traditional meeting spot has been a country club, but because of renovations to the club, we're currently meeting in the parlor of the Episcopal church.

Q. Do you eat at your meetings?
A. Generally not, though we've had some wine creeping in; we do try to meet for dinner before the meeting (this was much more convenient at the club than the church!), though. Our December meeting is a Christmas party, this year at a restaurant.

Q. Who leads the discussion? Do you use reading group guides?
A. Each month one person is responsible for planning a presentation that generally includes the author's biography, background of the book, critical reviews, etc. This person leads the discussion, though it often takes on a life of its own. We don't use reading group guides for discussion purposes, but some of us have used them to prepare our presentations.

Q. What kind of books do you read? How do you choose your books? Do you choose one new book at each meeting, or do you choose the books for a number of meetings ahead of time?
A. We all give input, but the person responsible for the program ultimately chooses the book. Books are not chosen for universal appeal, but for how well they'll lend themselves to discussion. We try to choose books 3 months in advance. We read mostly fiction, but very diverse. In the past few months we've read Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwartz, Greek Boy: Growing up Southern (a memoir by a local author, Dino Thompson), A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Cider House Rules by John Irving, Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith, To A Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson, A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton, Possession by AS Byatt, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates , Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins. And next month is my program, we're doing The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri.

Q. What were some of the best discussions or favorite books the group read?
A. They're all good, because the presenters are well prepared, and no one would dream of showing up without having read the book! Cider House Rules provided a good discussion because we also got together to see the movie, and it was interesting to compare the two.

Q. How do you keep things fun?
A. With a group of intelligent, witty, literate women discussing books, how could it NOT be fun? For some of us, this is the highlight of our month.

Q. What advice would you give to other reading groups?
A. I'd suggest trying the format we use; it works well for us because it allows us to focus on the book discussion-no one has to clean house, prepare food, or otherwise entertain. And, with 11 members and 11 meetings a year, it means we're only presenting a book once a year.

ReadingGroupGuides.com interviews special reading groups around the world, spotlighting a different group each month. We hope that you enjoy reading about their experiences and might find some new ideas to try with your group. If you belong to a group that you think should be spotlighted, click here to send.