For over a year, Amie Kusak and her co-workers at a preschool in Orlando, FL have been meeting during their lunch breaks to chat about the books they've read. Just a few months ago, they decided to turn their midday discussions into a formal book club. In this interview, Amie shares what she and her currently unnamed group have learned from their gatherings, including methods for fairly choosing suggested reading selections and how one dominating member can spoil the discussion for the rest of the group.

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

A: Our group does not have a name; we occasionally talk about a name, but we never come up with anything appropriate. Our group has been in existence for a few months as a formal group, but we've discussed books for more than a year before that.

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

A: We have about 8 regular members, and a few who visit now and then. No men, all women. We are all between the ages of 40 and 55.

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

A: We meet once a month formally, but since it's during our lunch hour at work, sometimes we discuss the book we are reading beforehand, as we are reading. We meet on the porch swing at the preschool where we work during our lunch hour.

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

A: We don't generally eat, but we do all have our favorite drinks --- mostly Coke and Diet Coke.

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

A: We do use reading group guides, especially if everyone starts out saying, "I liked the book," or "I didn't like the book." We don't have a "leader" exactly, but whoever suggests the book is in charge of providing the discussion questions.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: All kinds --- we all have different tastes, so we read biographies, historical novels, chick lit, and whatever someone has read that they think would be good to discuss.

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: Each of us puts a couple of slips of paper with our book titles into a bag at the beginning of the year, and we set up a schedule. That way, we can share books a few months ahead.

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

A: One Thousand White Women was the best discussion so far. It was amazing to find how many different perspectives we all had.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: We just ARE fun.

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

A: Don't let anyone dominate the meetings. That is no fun for anyone.

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

A: At another book club I belonged to, one woman dominated so much that people didn't feel free to speak. Eventually, we all said we were going to stop meeting for a while, but we just reorganized without her.

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

A: We are just a bunch of readers who work at a preschool and we all read, so we thought it would be fun to discuss the books we were reading.

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