Robbinsville, NJ
Rose McGlew talks to us about her reading group, which is based in Robbinsville, New Jersey. She reveals how her book club got started and provides a valuable piece of advice to other reading groups. Read on to learn more about Rose's group.
Q: Does your group have a name and/or a theme? How long has your group been in existence?
A: We are relatively new, less than a year, and we can't seem to come up with any catchy name!
Q: How many members do you have? How many men, how many women? What age are most of your members?
A: We have 9 official members, with most meetings averaging 7 members. We are all women, from 29 to early 40s.
Q: How often do you meet? Where do you meet?
A: We meet once a month in a member's home.
Q: Do you eat at your meetings? What do you eat? Who brings the food?
A: Of course we eat at our meetings!! Whoever is hosting usually takes care of the bulk of refreshments. We usually have a snack that relates to the book during the actual discussion and dessert after the "official" business ends.
Q: Who leads the discussion? Do you use reading group guides?
A: We do use reading group guides extensively and rotate the discussion moderation among the members.
Q: What kind of books do you read?
A: Mostly "women's" fiction and historical fiction, although we like to tie the books into obvious themes, too. We read Harry Potter in June and will read a horror book for October.
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: The founding member usually picks the book after each meeting, emailing the choice and next month's date to the members.
Q: What were some of the best discussions or favorite books the group read?
A: I Don't Know How She Does It really sparked some interesting discussion between the working and at-home moms. We haven't found a book yet that everyone agreed on, opinion-wise.
Q: How do you keep things fun?
A: We are always able to relate something from the book to our lives today and always end up talking about our kids, jobs, houses, etc. during dessert.
Q: What advice would you give to other reading groups?
A: Make sure that each person is allowed and encouraged to express his/her opinion. Sometimes the minority opinion is the most interesting!
Q: Do you have any horror stories, amusing anecdotes, or other special tales to tell?
A: Not really...we have anecdotes that are probably only amusing to us!
Q: Is there anything else unique or noteworthy about your group that you would like to share?
A: One person, whom we are all friends with, made the decision to get us together and start a reading group. I'm the person and the women are my neighbors, best friends from childhood and college, and friends I made while working on a play together.
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