Frances Farlow belongs to the “Frances & Friends Book Club” in Baton Rouge, LA. In this interview, Frances describes how her group, which formed in November, plans to make the experience even more fun in 2008 (one idea is to begin each meeting by answering a series of trivia questions). She also stresses the importance of commitment while being a member of a book club.

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

A: Our book club is called “Frances & Friends Book Club.”

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

A: We are a group of 12 women.

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

A: Once a month. Each member hosts the meeting at their home.

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

A: Yes, we eat at the meeting. Each host is responsible for the food.

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

A: The host member leads the discussion. Now we do not use a reading guide.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: Nonfiction, African American authors, Danielle Steel, John Grisham

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 a book at each meeting.

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

A: For our January 2008 meeting we discussed My Soul Cries Out. Everyone has called me to let me know that our member picked a good book.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: We just started in November, and this will be our first meeting for 2008. We will start with trivia questions, reading fun cartoons, editorial, poems, etc.

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

A: My advice is to be committed to the group and be able to receive constructive criticism.

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