Steven Feyl of Pleasantville, NY talks about his book group "The BiblioFeyls," which he founded in 1999. Each member is either a librarian or has worked in a library at some point. Read on to learn more about this group.

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

A: The BiblioFeyls, in existence since 1999

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

A: 8 total members --- 5 women and 3 men --- from early 20s to early 50s.

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

A: Every 6 weeks in local area restaurants.

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

A: The person who last chose the book gets to choose the following meeting's restaurant. Restaurants have ranged from various ethnic foods to generic bar food. If the book has an ethnic theme we will sometimes try and match it with a restaurant with a similar ethnic flavor.

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

A: Steve Feyl (founder of the group) takes a general lead in convening and leading the discussions. We will usually incorporate reading group guides if available into our discussions, but usually not question for question.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: We are open to read/discuss any books that are suggested by members. Generally we tend to stick to books in paperback, and fiction tends to be a more commonly suggested type of book.

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: At the end of a discussion we put everyone's name into a hat and pick the person who will choose the next book to be discussed. For the next discussion, this person's name is left out of the hat so that randomly everyone gets to choose a book. And when a "cycle" finishes we go back to putting everyone's name in the hat.

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

A: Our most enjoyable discussions were of Chang and Eng by Darin Strauss and Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: We just have fun people who come to the group!

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

A: Don't be too serious, keep the discussions light, and don't have too strict rules (I took book discussion group leader training at the New York Public Library and they have VERY strict rules for their discussions).

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

A: We had one discussion in which the author came to the discussion (The Silk Code by Paul Levinson).

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

A: All members of the group are librarians or have worked in libraries.

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