Shannon O'Connor from Mason, OH talks about her book club, the Little Bitty Book Club. These four women have been best friends for many years, and therefore have a great time getting together to talk about the books they've read and whatever else comes to mind. Read on to learn more about this entertaining group.

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

A: Yes, we're the LBBC, Little Bitty Book Club. We are a subset of a larger group, the OBC (Oprah Book Club), which was started to read --- you guessed it --- the Oprah books, years ago. There are eight in the OBC. The subset is a quartet of the more voracious readers of the larger group. I'm not sure how long we've been in existence, but probably for at least four years. One of the other ladies might know for sure.

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

A: There are four of us, four women. I'd say we're all in our mid-40s, but the youngster among us may be 38 or 39. I'd need to check with her, and that's kind of a rude question to have to ask her.

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

A: We meet whenever we finish the book. Much e-mailing goes on to check on each other's progress. It averages about once a month to once every six weeks. We meet in restaurants.

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

A: Yes, we eat because we meet at restaurants and discuss the book over dinner. Obviously we eat from the menu of wherever we're meeting.

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

A: There really isn't a regular discussion leader. Since we rotate who chooses the book each time, it often falls to the person who chooses the book to lead the discussion ... or defend, or at least explain, her choice, if the book isn't well liked. Yes, if I remember I'll look on the Internet for a reading group guide for each book and print it out and bring it along. Sometimes the reading group guides are kind of consciously ponderous, though. So then we make fun of them. Obviously if it's a book with a reading group guide included, we'll use that.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: Fiction, a lot of which is rather woman-centric --- not in a lesbian sense, more in an "Oprah book" sense. If that makes sense.

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 picking the book. The person who chooses the book gets to choose the restaurant where the discussion takes place, too. I think we each have different methods for choosing books, anything from what's on the hot list on Amazon.com, to a book someone might've been wanting to read when she had the time, to books recommended by friends/family/co-workers, to something that had a nice cover when it was spotted in a bookstore or library. When a meeting is arranged, the person whose turn it is to choose the next book is reminded of her assignment and usually brings the title of her choice to the meeting for -- as they say on Trading Spaces -- the "reveal."

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

A: We recently read Wicked: The Story of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. That one seemed to have sparked one of the longest and most convoluted discussions in recent memory. White Teeth by Zadie Smith was well discussed and well liked, too. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood wasn't well liked by all, nor was Moo by Jane Smiley.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: We've been friends for many, many years. In addition to the book we discuss our lives. One fun thing we do --- if a book we've read comes out as a movie, we'll get together and go see the movie. Recent examples are Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith and Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. Often in our discussions we'll muse on the topic of "If this book was made into a movie, who would you cast in it?" So when a movie IS made, it's good fun to see who Hollywood picked and if they did better than we did!

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

A: Don't take it too seriously. Have fun. Don't feel obligated to read "important" books. If the discussion drifts off to other things, let it go. When you choose a book, keep in mind that several --- if not all --- of your members might look for it in the library rather than buying it. Make sure it's available in the library. We live in the Cincinnati area where there are multiple branches of the library. The chooser always checks to make sure there are enough copies in the system.

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

A: Well, all four of us are editors by profession. We can be harsh on books concerning technical details on the writing. Since we are heavy readers, we've discovered that when a book is selected it's important to have a few alternates, because chances are at least one person in the quartet has already read the book you want the group to read.

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

A: We all belong to a minimum of two book clubs. It's like an addiction.

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