Courtney Jones from Edmond, OK talks about her group, The Lucky Tuesday Night Book Club, which consists of 14 members and holds 11 discussions per year. In this interview, Courtney shares the group’s only unanimous 5-star read, as well as their annual tradition and the inspiration for their name.

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

A: We are The Lucky Tuesday Night Book Club. We have been in existence for one-and-a-half years.

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

A: We meet every third Tuesday of the month, but we combine the November and December meetings to meet the first Tuesday of December to accommodate the busy holiday season. We have a voluntary member become the host for the month, and we meet at her house.

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

A: We do eat at the meetings. We leave the menu up to the host. She can ask everyone to bring potluck style, or she can ask just a few friends to contribute, or do it herself. The menu can be book-related or not. We let the host have the party she would like to have.

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

A: The person responsible for the book leads the discussion for her month. It is the person who was the host from the month before. We sometimes use guides, and sometimes tweek them to suit our needs.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: Fiction only. Any genre of fiction she would like. We do not do nonfiction or biographies.

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: The host for the month picks five books and gives us a brief synopsis, and she is not required to have read the book herself. The entire group then votes on which of the five we would like to be our selection for the month. That host then becomes the discussion leader the following month at the new host’s house. After our discussion, we rate the books on a scale of 0 (worst) to 5 (best) stars.

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

A: The only book that the group has given 5 stars to is She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb. Other high-ranking books were Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout, The Help by Katherine Stockett and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. The Help gave us our most serious and moving discussion. From the different ages of women in our group, we got a unique perspective. It was a revelation to many of our younger members to realize how close to the past discrimination was from the stories of some of our members who lived through segregation.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: It is fun because every month is a different party due to our different host. Each host is encouraged to pick books she likes and not worry about trying to please the entire group. It is impossible to please 14 people. This has given us all an opportunity to read something different from what we ourselves might pick up at the bookstore to try. Each year we make a commemorative bookmark, including the books we read and their ratings. The bookmarks are the same, except a few with a slight difference. Once everyone has drawn a bookmark, the different bookmarks indicate which member drew the lucky bookmarks that come with a prize.

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

A: The best conversations come from people of different ages, lifestyles and socioeconomic levels. Make your members’ list with a variety of people. It will make your discussion more interesting. With such a diverse list, it is important to remember to agree to disagree.

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

A: We generally like to let the conversation go where it goes. However, it is important for the discussion holder to reign things in with dominant members or if the conversations veer too far away from the books.

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

A: Because we are the Lucky Tuesday Night Book Club, luck is kind of our running theme, with the Lucky Cat being our unofficial “mascot.” Many e-vites, bookmarks, etc., involve some sort of a lucky charm or the Lucky Cat on it. The Lucky Cat is a Japanese legend.

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