The Bethlehem Women's Book Group was formed in September 2000. Its members --- who all belong to Bethlehem church --- enjoy spending time with one another, talking about books as well as their lives. Read on to learn more about this vocal group and why this particular book club has "gone from last priority to first priority" with members.

Q: Does your group have a name and/or a theme? How long has your group been in existence?

A: We are called The Bethlehem Women's Book Group because we are all members of Bethlehem church. We started meeting in September 2000.

Q: How many members do you have? How many men, how many women? What age are most of your members?

A: We have 17 members with 5 email members. These are people who did belong to the group but can no longer make it to meetings so we keep them in the loop by email. We are all women. Our ages range from late 20s to early 60s.

Q: How often do you meet? Where do you meet?

A: We meet once a month year round and our meetings are held at our church.

Q: Do you eat at your meetings? What do you eat? Who brings the food?

A: Nothing organized. When a member decides to bring a snack, we gobble it right up!

Q: Who leads the discussion? Do you use reading group guides?

A: We have a facilitator and we always use a reading group guide. If a specific guide is not available, we use a generic guide.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: Mostly fiction with some biography. Although we are a church-related group we do not always read religious or spiritual books; our main focus is on fellowship, which we have in abundance.

Q: 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 take turns bringing books each month and we choose the next month’s book at each meeting.

Q: What were some of the best discussions or favorite books the group read?

A: We have read books that no one particularly liked and wound up liking them after we discussed them. We also have read books that none of us would have considered reading and were surprised that we liked them. Our favorite books out of the 52 we have read are: Plainsong, Corelli’s Mandolin, West With the Night, The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, Pride and Prejudice, Peace Like a River, Winter Solstice and Wicked. Best discussions came from The Hours, The Weight of Water, I Capture the Castle, The 6th Lamentation and Illusions.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: We are a very vocal group and never have a lull in the conversation. We are eager to spend time talking about our books and our lives. We try to see movies that are based on books when we can along with dinner out or dessert. We have met at restaurants but find that we can’t discuss as freely with others sitting so close to us. Traditionally, at our July meeting we meet at a local clubhouse and have a “margarita party” around the pool.

Q: What advice would you give to other reading groups?

A: Don’t take yourselves too seriously. We are about a group of women who love to read, but more importantly we love to share fellowship with one another. We frequently bill ourselves as being like our church softball teams without the bats, balls, gloves, dirt, sweat and spitting.

Q: Do you have any horror stories, amusing anecdotes, or other special tales to tell?

A: When we first formed our group, everyone (men and women) was invited to join. However, no men showed up and we have become a women’s group. Recently we had a new male minister appointed to our church and he was interested in coming to one of our discussions. We weren’t sure that we wanted to change the dynamics of the group by adding a male member. As it turned out, one of our members had to have surgery the day of our meeting and the minister had to go to the hospital to visit her instead of coming to the meeting. We kid her about “faking a hysterectomy” and “taking one for the team!” We have since added "Women's" to our name.

Q: Is there anything else unique or noteworthy about your group that you would like to share?

A: This has turned into a very enriching part of our lives. It has enabled women who would not have gotten to know each other --- because our other interests are diverse and our children are different ages --- to meet each other and do something just for ourselves. When we first started, members would come unless they had to go a child’s soccer game or other event. But we have grown so close that no matter what, we all show up for the book group and the kids and husbands just have to manage without us. We have gone from last priority to first priority with our members.

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