In this interview, Carol Wescott --- a member of the “Book Buds” in Rochester, NY --- discusses the importance of reading for pleasure rather than obligation. She believes that any member of a book club should always offer their ideas during the book selection process. In addition, Carol offers some amusing anecdotes about a “field trip” her group took, as well as other book-themed activities they incorporated into their discussions.

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

A: Our group name is “Book Buds.” It symbolizes growing knowledge and friendships through books. We started up in September 2006.

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

A: We have five women and one “token” male. Our group covers every decade 20 through 60.

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

A: We meet once a month at a restaurant that may cater to the “theme/region” of the book. For example, when we read The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, we had Cajun cuisine and drank vodka martinis.

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

A: We always have cocktails and dinner. The leader that month gets to pick the restaurant and make the reservations.

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

A: We take turns being the facilitator of the discussions. Usually, whoever suggested the book will lead. We use the discussion questions from reading group guides or just let the discussion happen naturally.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: We read everything. The only requirement is that the book can’t have more than 500 pages to it. Otherwise, some of us would be pressed to finish it in one month.

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 try to get every member to suggest a book. We like to have three books in advance due to some members being vigorous readers. The majority of us work at the same company and sometimes our co-workers give us suggestions. For example the author of First Sun, Last Sun is the son-in-law of one of our co-workers.

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

A: Some of our favorite books: The Sunday List of Dreams, Mercy, First Sun, Last Sun, City of Light, The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, The Hindi-Bindi Club and The Lottery.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: When we read Running with Scissors, we went to the movie instead of dinner. We had a field trip to a “sex toy store” before going to discussion dinner for The Sunday List of Dreams for visual/clarification purposes! We got very silly there. We invited girls from our workplace that were from India and arranged marriages for our discussion on The Hindi-Bindi Club --- that was VERY enlightening.

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

A: Try not to be strict about finishing each book. Read for pleasure. If you don’t like the book stop reading it; but go to the discussion and share why you didn’t like it.

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

A: A member’s mother joined our group, and during one of our discussion dinners I found out that she grew up in Vermont. I had an aunt and uncle who ran a pub in a college town there years ago. She knew them and their pub very well during her college years! It’s a small world.

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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.

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