Sheila Dalton of Toronto, Ontario is the moderator of Book Buzz, an online book club that consists of over 200 members from North America and Europe. In this interview, Sheila provides helpful tips for running a successful Internet reading group and explains the benefits of having discussions at any time, from anywhere. She also describes some future plans for the club and shares an amusing anecdote about a stranger who wandered into their chat.

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

A: We’re called Book Buzz, and we’re an online book club run by the Toronto Public Library. We’ve been up and running since April of 2006.

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

A: We have over 200 members --- most from Canada, some from the States and England, and one from France. The majority are women between the ages of 31 and 55. Men comprise perhaps 25% of the membership.

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

A: We meet online, 24/7!

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

A: We don’t have meetings, but you can be sure at least some of us eat during discussions! We’re online, so I don’t know what the others are doing, but once I drank a wee glass of wine during an author chat, and choffed some peanuts, too.

That’s one thing about discussing online --- no one can hear you chewing.

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

A: I’m the moderator, and I initiate the discussions and take part in them. We link to formal reading guides, and occasionally use questions from them, but we’re pretty free-form in our discussions.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: So far, we’ve read a variety --- Canadian modern novels, some prize-winning fiction (Small Island by Andrea Levy), a mystery by Peter Robinson, a nonfiction adventure/travel book (The Shark God by Charles Montgomery), and a sci-fi novel (The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell). Our current pick is Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, and January’s will be Spin, a sci-fi novel by Hugo Award winner Robert Charles Wilson, who will be doing two live chats with us that 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 choose them by vote, or the library staff chooses them with input from the members. We’ve been choosing only a current book and one for the following month, but starting in January, we plan to post our selections at least 3 months ahead. We’re calling that section “Read Aheads.” One possibility is Vinyl Café Diaries by Stuart McLean in March. It’s a hilarious read, and we could all use that in March.

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

A: We had great live online chats with Charles Montgomery, Joseph Boyden and Dan Kalla, who writes medical thrillers. Most posts from members to date have been for Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow also generated a lively discussion.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: We hold contests for things like “Best Summer Reads,” we link to other book-related sites (and they to us), and we have book giveaways geared to our online author chats. Also, we have the chats themselves, which our members love.

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

A: Online groups should work hard to reach out to people via the Net, create a safe, friendly online “space” for members to express themselves, take surveys, consult members, listen to feedback and enjoy themselves!

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

A: The time someone logged into one of our chats by mistake and demanded to know if we’d fed the dogs was pretty funny!

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

A: I think the fact that we’re an online group that holds regular live online author chats makes us a little different. We have an interactive blog, an Open as well as a Current Discussion Forum, plus a separate forum for SF/Fantasy called Flights of Fiction. Our homepage is attractive, too! Take a look. Go to http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/, click on the Book Clubs icon, and then choose Book Buzz.

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