Two and a half years ago, Nancy Green and a group of retirees from the Oak Hammock retirement community at the University of Florida organized “The Acorn Readers Book Club.” In this interview, Nancy explains how she and her group members, many of whom are retired university professors, utilize their backgrounds in business and academia in their discussions. She also talks about how the university-affiliated community promotes the philosophy of “life fulfillment” by offering a variety of programs, such as the courses in Russian literature and Hawthorne and Melville short stories in session this fall.

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

A: We are known as “The Acorn Readers Book Club.” We organized ourselves about two and a half years ago at our retirement community, Oak Hammock, at the University of Florida.

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

A: We have 14 members at present, ranging in age from 65 to 85. There are two gentlemen who join our group occasionally.

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

A: We meet once a month in the private dining room of our community, which seats 12 people, which means that someone may miss a meeting if they are slow to finish the book!

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

A: One of the luxuries of living in a community like ours is that we have wonderful dining venues with varied menus. No cooking for our hostess of the month, no dirty dishes --- just an enjoyable meal and our discussions.

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

A: We have a different facilitator for each book, usually the person who has recommended the book. Some of us use the reading group guides when they are available, as well as other book notes. Others prepare their own materials. A number of our group members are retired university professors who have backgrounds in English, Literature and other relevant fields.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: We try to read award-winning books, mostly contemporary novels. Some examples are The Kite Runner, The Color Purple, Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud, Beloved and Reading Lolita in Tehran.

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 started by making a list of books from your website that we then numbered by personal preference. Then we made a list from the highest votes per book. As we began to get a feel for the group, we began making recommendations if we had read the book. We try to keep a list for five or six months in advance so that we can search the public libraries, used bookstores, Amazon, etc. for inexpensive copies.

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

A: Each of us has a personal favorite. Many of us have commented that were it not for the club, we would not have read a particular book, but once we had done so, we were glad that we did. One of our best discussions was generated by the facilitator asking a question that everyone answered on a notecard before the answer was discussed aloud. That way our observation or opinion was not generated from someone else's answer.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: We try to find a movie that was made from the book. Good conversation and the other activities of the community keep us connected and having fun. We frequently go as a group to book lectures at the university.

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

A: Pass the facilitating around, give everyone a chance to express an opinion or ask a question and choose books that at least one person has read and recommends (that person should facilitate).

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

A: Our continuing care retirement community has a trademarked advertising slogan "A Life Fulfilling Community." Our philosophy is that lifelong learning and fitness is what promotes health and long life. Many of our residents have had careers in academia and business, and our affiliation with the University of Florida provides us with unprecedented opportunities to live out this philosophy. Not only does this group continue to read, but we also have classes such as the two this semester --- "Russian Literature, Some Short Classics" and "Hawthorne and Melville Short Stories" --- as well as many others in other fields of interest. We have at least one author in our group.

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