ReadingGroupGuides.com interviews special reading groups around the world, spotlighting a different group each month. We hope that you enjoy reading about their experiences and might find some new ideas to try with your group. If you belong to a group that you think should be spotlighted, click here to answer our interview questions.

Above everything else, the main reason people join reading groups is that they are fun. Well, we've found a group that takes fun to a new level! They call themselves WOW and they aren't kidding! This group doesn't settle for dry discussions, but use food, decor and sometimes even costumes to help themselves get in the spirit of the books they read. Many thanks to Maureed on Long Island for telling us about her exciting group.

Q.   Does your group have a name and/or a theme?
A. We refer to ourselves as WOW -- Women of Wantagh, and we read a variety of genres.

Q.  How long has your group been meeting?
A. We have been meeting for a little over three years.

Q.  What is the makeup of your group?
A. All of our members are women ranging in age from 25 to 50.  There are about 15 of us in our group, with about 10 to 12 members who meet faithfully.

Q.  How often do you meet?  Where do you meet?
A. We generally meet once a month in the evenings at members' homes.  Twice we have met at a bookstore.

Q.  Do you serve food at your meetings?
A. The hostess usually has snacks or desserts prepared--when possible related to the theme of the book (for Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, finger sandwiches and peach ice tea; for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Egg Cream Sodas; for Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, pecan cookies and pecan pie; for The Queen and I, tea and scones), and once we had each member bring a food or appetizer from a culinary mystery.

Q.  Who leads the discussion?  Do you use reading group guides?
A. We do not have a set discussion leader.  Usually the person who recommends the book leads the talk.  We use reading group guides when available, and make connections to events taking place in the world or in other books we have read.  If possible, we will share author interviews, or other articles on the subject (for example, for Into Thin Air, we shared nonfiction articles).

Q.  What kind of books do you read?
A. We read a lot of bestsellers, and mostly fiction, and sometimes we revisit a classic.  Nonfiction selections we have read include:  Angela's Ashes, Into Thin Air, The Color of Water, and Tuesdays With Morrie.

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 select many of our books from the New York Times Bestseller list, recommendations from co-workers or other reading groups, reviews we have read, authors we love, and sometimes Oprah.  We prefer to select books ahead of
time, so it gives everyone a chance to get the books and have time to read.

Q.  What were some of the best discussions or favorite books the group read?
A. Our best discussions do not always come from the books we love the most, but rather when we start out feeling one way and the discussion leads us to see other ideas and points of view, often changing our mind!  Some of our best discussions revolved around the following books:  I Know This Much is True,
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, How Stella Got Her Groove Back,
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and The Book Club.  Some of our best-loved books were: Angela's Ashes, I I Know This Much is True, The Color of Water, Plum Island, Midwives, Tuesdays With Morrie, and The Mitford Series.

Q.  How do you keep things fun?
A. Depending on the topic, and book, sometimes we have a lot of fun at our meetings.  We try to use subtle touches in setting the table or decorating (such as A Map of the World, which is set on a dairy farm, so our hostess created a whole cow theme--see the photo on this page),

or we'll dress in theme (one member wore a
tennis outfit to the disscussion of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,

and we wore "antique" clothing to Jack Finney's Time and Again), and when appropriate try to have fitting background music. 

For Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil we had peach ice tea.  Several of us dressed as members of the Ladies Club, and the hostess replicated a schedule similiar to the one they followed and posted it on the door (see the image on this page).  The hostess also covered her eyeglasses with lavendar plastic wrap.

When we read Time and Again the hostess used only candles to light her home, and took pictures off her walls and replaced them with vintage black and white photos of New York City.

At our discussion of Into Thin Air we were greeted by a centerpiece made of glasses forming Mt. Everest, being climbed by LEGO people, and we ate trail mix.

Most things we do are subtle--what counts is a really great discussion!!! We had a guest speaker talk about her life as an adopted child when we read Somebody's Baby, many of us went to hear James McBride speak at Nassau Community College, and several of us participated in a regression inspired by Firebird.

Q. What advice would you give to other reading groups?
A. Our  advice is to try different genres and let different people make selections.  We all agree one of the best things about the book club has been that we have read books we might not have chosen if we did not belong to our club.  We realize reading is a very social act--we learn from stories and discussion about stories. 

Also, do research. A few of us search magazines, book club sites such as ReadingGroupGuides.com, and publishers' sites for
author information, and discussion questions. Talks that involve background knowledge are usually much more interesting and engaging!  Find out about the authors and the subject matter when possible.

Q.  Is there anything else unique or noteworthy about your group that you would like to share?
A. Some members (those with children entering 6th grade at the time) held a parent/child discussion group for a school-assigned selection, Detectives in Togas.  The kids wore togas, ate pizza,  drank grape juice out of plastic wine glasses and had fun discussing the  book. 

At holiday meetings, we have each brought new children's books to donate to a local children's charity. 

And we've gotten together for a fun night of popcorn and snacks when a video of one of our selections has become available.