Christine Dickey of Rio Rancho, NM talks about her book group, which consists mostly of teachers. She explains how she keeps meetings interesting with the use of book-themed favors, shares expert advice on how to get a club started, and recalls a humorous incident involving an author visit and a less-than-enjoyable selection.

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

A: We don't have a name as of yet. We vary the monthly theme depending on what book we have read. Most of our members are teachers, but not all! We have been up and running a year now.

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

A: We are all women! There are 10 of us, about to grow to 12!

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

A: We meet once a month. Each month is a different restaurant depending on the book we read.

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

A: Eating is always involved! If we do meet at someone's house, it's potluck style. Sometimes we just do a dessert chat and meet somewhere that has decadent desserts!

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

A: I am the group leader, and bring questions from reading group guides for all!

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: Mostly fiction, but some nonfiction creeps in there! Each member gets a turn to pick a book, so it depends what sounds good to each member as they are choosing.

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 at least four months' worth of books at a time. I email reminders to all.

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

A: We all loved The Secret Life of Bees and Life of Pi. As women, it's rare to get together with a group of your friends to really talk about how a certain book has touched your life. The books are always catalysts for all sorts of discussion.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: Just being together always seems to breed fun. For some books, I bring each member a small gift that fits the book. For instance, for The Secret Life of Bees, I gave each member a small jar of honey. I made Black Madonna labels for each jar, and also wrote a quote from the book on the label.

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

A: Just jump in there and start...even if you only have three or four members. Also, remain flexible about each meeting. I used to get very hung-up about the fact that ALL members couldn't seem to make ALL meetings. Now, I just take each month for what it is and who is able to share their time.

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

A: We read one book, and it just so happened I knew the author (she lived locally). We invited her to chat...but then the whole group ended up HATING the book! So we met an hour earlier than we told the author, and vented before she got there!

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

A: I of course think my group is the best one ever! The women all bring such unique threads to the mix. I value that time more than any other in my life.

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