The Perfect Ex-Sample book club of Baltimore, Maryland has a diverse membership, ranging from college students to middle-agers. Their spokesperson, Vanessa Johnson, shares how such a unique group of individuals can get along so well and fuel each meeting with interesting discussions. She also emphasizes the importance of organization, keeping things light, and having an open mind.

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

A: The name of our group is the Perfect Ex-Sample.

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

A: We have 10 members, 8 women and 2 men. Our ages range from 18 to 50.

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

A: We started out meeting once every two weeks (trying to get in as many meetings as we could before our college student had to go back to school), but now we meet once a month. We meet one month at a restaurant and the next at a member's house.

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

A: Yes! Whatever the hostess fixes.

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

A: Whoever chooses the book. It's up to that person.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: That's also up to the person who chose the 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: We just choose ahead of time in alphabetical order whose turn it would be to select the next book.

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

A: The best discussion was on a book titled The Invisible Life by E. Lynn Harris. No one liked the book except the person who chose it, which gave us a lot to talk about.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: We always get off the subject a little and someone's always "got jokes."

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

A: Just to keep it light, have fun, and remember that everyone is entitled to their opinion.

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

A: We find that people who don't finish their books come to the discussion, learn how interesting the book is, go back and finish it.

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

A: Yes, I think our group's range of age (18 to 50) is unique, and we have great discussions where everyone participates.

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