Paula Kleinknecht of Jamestown, North Dakota talks about her book club Literally Speaking, a.k.a. "The Book Bags." Sometimes, members will be served food that follows the theme of the book they are discussing. 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: Our club name is Literally Speaking, a.k.a. "The Book Bags." We are starting our sixth year in 2004.

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

A: We currently have 8 members, all women. Our ages range from approximately 30-70.

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

A: We meet every 6 weeks, but we don't meet in December. Each meeting we have a hostess and she decides where we'll meet, which is usually at her house.

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

A: The hostess serves lunch at our meetings. Usually it is a dessert or hors d'oeurves. Sometimes the food follows the theme of the book --- for example, Chinese treats when we read Memoirs of a Geisha and Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, a dessert with honey when we read The Secret Life of Bees, or a bean dip when we read The Bean Trees.

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

A: The hostess starts the discussion and normally uses a guide. Usually the conversation flows easily so the hostess doesn't have to do a lot. Once or twice we couldn't find a guide, so we made up our own questions.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: We have read a great variety of books --- fiction, memoirs, mysteries, nonfiction, and we've even read a couple of self-help books! One thing we haven't read as a group is a classic, although we did give the group the assignment one year of reading an Ernest Hemingway classic.

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?

A: The hostess chooses the book. We try to choose the book a few meetings ahead, although this doesn't always work out. We pass out discussion questions at the meeting before so members can read them over.

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

A: Memoirs of a Geisha, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Daughter of Fortune, Angela's Ashes, The Cider House Rules, The Red Tent, Drowning Ruth, and Change Me into Zeus's Daughter.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: We have a very laid back group, and that makes it fun. We try to enjoy the themes of the books. Occasionally we read a lighthearted book such as Walking Across Egypt, which we all enjoyed. One time we even play-acted a scene in a book.

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

A: Mostly to just keep things fun, read and do things that your individual club will enjoy. Also, we believe that keeping membership to a smaller number probably helps with group involvement and discussion.

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