Q. Does your group have a name and/or a theme? How long has your group been in existence?
A. We do not have a name. The group just calls it "book club." We began meeting in 1996.
Q. How many members do you have? What age are most of your members?
A. We have five couples. Ages range from mid-50's to mid-70's.
Q. How often do you meet? Where do you meet?
A. We meet about monthly (we have to work around people's travel schedules so we may vary two or three weeks up or back). We rotate between the homes of the members.
Q. Do you eat at your meetings? What do you eat? Who brings the food?
A. The host family always has snacks out when we arrive. This ranges from fruit and cheese to various dips and other goodies and goes with red or white wine. At the end of the evening, we always have dessert and coffee to wrap up the evening. The host couple provides all the food and wine.
Q. Who leads the discussion? Do you use reading group guides?
A. We rarely use group guides but often someone has done some research on the author and book. This may be the host couple but not every time.
Q. What kind of books do you read? 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 read a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction. Every meeting people bring copies of what they have been reading. Some of it they like and some they don't but they share their opinion and pass the books around (often loan them to someone who is really taken by the book if we have not chosen to read it for the next month). We have learned, through a couple of unfortunate choices, not to select a book unless one of us has read it and thinks it good. One time when we were short of ideas, we met at one of the larger local stores, took 30 minutes off on our own looking around, each then brought a stack of candidate books back to the group. We talked about the books over coffee and got two or three books picked for the future. Some months we do two books if the suggestions look especially good to the group.
Q. What were some of the best discussions or favorite books the group read?
A. I would list quite a few great books: No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Nothing Like it in the World by Stephen Ambrose, MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL BY JOHN BERENDT, John Adams by David McCullough, A MAP OF THE WORLD BY JANE HAMILTON, Endurance by Alfred Lansing, Duane's Depressed by Larry McMurtry, The Shipping News by Annie Proulx, TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE BY MITCH ALBOM, THE READER BY BERNHARD SCHLINK, SNOW FALLING OF CEDARS BY DAVID GUTERSON, INDEPENDENCE DAY BY RICHARD FORD, COLD MOUNTAIN BY CHARLES FRAZIER, THE LIARS' CLUB BY MARY KARR, Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy, East of the Mountains by David Guterson, Lost in Place by Mark Salzman, A Painted House by John Grisham, and scores more.
Q. How do you keep things fun?
A. We once did an overnight trip to Archer City to stay at the old hotel there, discuss a Larry McMurtry book, and to visit his wonderful used bookstore, which is housed in about six buildings in this little Texas town. We plan to do weekend in New Orleans in the spring where we will take in the D-Day Museum (we are great fans of Stephen Ambrose).
Q. What advice would you give to other reading groups?
A. Don't get too big a group. Get a variety of life experiences in the group. Make sure all will commit for at least a year to give the group a chance to gel. Don't get people who are all already very close friends. Do make sure, however, that each couple has a strong link to at least one other couple since that helps the group get going.
Q. Is there anything else unique or noteworthy about your group that you would like to share?
A. We think the group has become a great support group for all the members and we have gotten to know each other very well. By reading such a variety of books and discussing all sorts of things, we have gotten pretty deep into one another's history, beliefs, values, joys, and problems. The group is really strong for us all. Now, even if we did not have the books, we would have to get together.
