This interview is with Lisa Klebba from "The Happy Bookers" of Linn, Missouri. 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 name of our group is "The Happy Bookers." Our theme is "You Never Know What You Will Find Between The Covers!" The group was started in October 1993.

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

A: Thirteen now, two set to join in the fall. No men as of yet! The age range is 30 to 50+.

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

A: We meet the first Tuesday of the month. We do not meet in the summer. We have met over the years at our local library, community center, and now meet at members' homes. In December, we have been going out to a restaurant for dinner and have a gift-exchange of a $10 book or other reading related item. (Our members have been very creative with this gift exchange!!)

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

A: Do We Eat? Yes!! Always! We often tie in the food for the evening with the book's theme --- for Corelli's Mandolin, our hostess had wonderful food that tied in with the setting of the book...sooo good. The movie came out the week of this meeting, so we watched part of the movie at our meeting. Watermelon by Marian Keyes was another great theme meeting. I wish I had space and time to tell you all the fun things our members have thought up!

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

A: I have led discussion in the past years; the hostess now often takes the lead. The hostess also researches the author and finds reviews about the book, and mails these items along with discussion questions prior to the meeting. We love the reading guides! They're very helpful to lead us to areas of discussion we might not have thought of previously.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: We have read mostly fiction, a few memoirs, and a mystery now and then.

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: What we call our formal book club "reading season" begins with our September meeting. Several members bring books, suggestions, reviews, ads, lists, etc., and we select our reading list for the year. In my work as a librarian, I keep up with the book reviews in the different medias, and along with other members, we somehow narrow it down to a book a month. I have a stack of reading for that meeting now.

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

A: Lively discussions have developed from so many!! A few that come to mind are Behind the Scenes at the Museum, A Confederacy of Dunces, The Green Mile, etc. We have read several books each of Elizabeth Berg, Barbara Kingsolver and Alice Hoffman, of which we have had great book club exchanges. And some of our very best discussions have been about books we have liked the least!!

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: We do so like to have fun! I guess we really like drama, because we like to dress up! We often have meetings where we dress up as a character in the book, road trips, see book related movies together (I saw Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood today and loved it; I laughed and cried), get together with other book groups for a joint meeting, invite local authors, bookstore managers, and new head librarians to speak to our group, theme meetings, etc. We ordered t-shirts with our club name, e-mails, newsletters and, last Christmas, our hostess challenged each of our members with a common story idea to use to write our own "mini" novel!

We go all out with our gala "finale" before our summer break. Our clever hostess, Rita, dazzles us with a small gift by our plate, which is somehow related to the book. Many of us dress up as a character from the book, and food is tied in with the book. Oh, and we love to wear our tiaras; we like to think of ourselves as "Reading Royalty" --- it's silly, but fun. After seeing the Ya-Ya movie, we are going to each create our own headdresses for our fall meeting and perform an induction ceremony for our two new members. We have even been asked to help develop the theme and serve as hostesses for a big local fundraising event.

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

A: Listen. Draw out any quiet members. Read book news. Keep up with publishers' news. Share books when you can. Keep expenses down by reading books that are out in paperback or check with the local library to see how many copies they have. Contact local authors and invite them to speak to your group. Be involved with your local library and be kind to all the librarians. Search out ideas from the Internet and from other friends in different book clubs. Invite another group to meet with your group for a meeting. Meeting ideas we have liked: Bring and talk about your favorite cookbook, children's book, or "show and tell" after Christmas.

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

A: A number of us had never read any of Stephen King's books and never thought we would until an esteemed member of our club suggested The Green Mile. So we gave it a try, and loved it. While I happened to be reading the last book on my vacation in a cabin by the lake, the part about the small rodent begins.....and I end up on the top of the couch screaming, because at the PRECISE moment that I am reading the rodent (small mouse) part, such a creature runs in the room I am in. It still gives me chills.

AND our road trip to Texas to visit and have the Goddess Treatment at The Beauty And The Book store/salon in Jefferson, Texas! Ya gotta go there gals and guys. It was the most fun ever. Kathy Patrick is a hoot, and she will treat you right! She knows books and beauty to boot! What more can you ask! We talked books, got manicures, and I got a big Texas hairdo. All the while we are talking books as fast as we can. Jefferson, Texas is a charming town full, and I do mean full, of bed and breakfast inns. Eateries, steamboat rides, and a fabulous Gone with the Wind museum. You just have to see to believe. It can fill up the rest of your time. It was a reading road trip we want to take again --- soon!

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

A: While we love to have fun, we love to learn while we are together discussing books, showing our children, friends, and spouses how reading is a positive experience: that there are many stories to tell and to be told, fascinating lives to learn about, and how the wonder of words can unite us all. We like to be cheerleaders for books!

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