Mary Anyan of St. Petersburg, FL divulges a number of fun and interesting facts about her group, the Tampa Bay Divine Goddesses Book Club. She provides a list of some of the favorite books that her group has read, and talks about one woman who is lovingly reminded by other group members of her (non)reading habits.

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

A: We are the Tampa Bay Divine Goddesses Book Club (because we all consider ourselves "goddesses"!) We've been together for almost two years.

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

A: 10 members, all women, ages range from mid-30s to early-50s.

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

A: We meet monthly, usually at a restaurant or sometimes at a member's home.

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

A: Yes, it's most often restaurant fare (i.e. Bennigan's, Panera's, Applebee's, Outback Steakhouse). When we meet at a member's home, everyone contributes food and drink.

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

A: The facilitator for the evening leads the discussion. She's the woman who selected that month's book. She also decides the meeting location. We frequently use your guides (very helpful!).

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: We read a variety of genres, but we find that the majority in the group do not care for fluffy romance novels, or sci-fi, or horror (and definitely nothing regarding menopause!).

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: It's ladies' choice. We choose one new book at each meeting. We drew numbers at the first meeting and add new members into the rotation.

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

A: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, The Bride's Kimono by Sujata Massey, The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, The Book Club by Mary Alice Monroe, and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. We are currently reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: Our members are naturally lively, and the fun just seems to "happen!" (Of course, having wine at our meetings doesn't hurt, either!)

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

A: Don't limit yourselves to one genre and be open to reading a variety of books (but agree what genres are off-limits).

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

A: One of our members, Wendy, is lovably notorious for reading either none of a book or only part of a book (we think she's read only 3 of 16 in their entirety)! So rather than forming an "L" (for "loser") with our fingers and holding it in front of our foreheads, whenever Wendy does not read a book in its entirety, we form a "W" with our index, middle, and ring fingers and hold it in front of our foreheads aimed in her direction!

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

A: We genuinely like each other and have grown closer over the last two years.

We held one of our meetings at the stadium prior to a Tampa Bay Devil Rays baseball game, and we're planning a field trip for next month and an overnight club trip in October.

One of our members found "Goddess" tee-shirts at a TJ Maxx, so several of the members now have them and wear them to meetings. We each selected a goddess who represents our personality (or who we would like to be)!

Our members are from diverse backgrounds and professions, so we have much to share with each other at our meetings, not only in discussing the books but also in the friendships we have formed.

We videotaped a portion of a recent meeting and will send a copy to Oprah in the hope that she will either invite us to Chicago (first choice!) or come visit us here in St. Petersburg.

© Copyright 2001-2012, ReadingGroupGuides.com. All rights reserved.

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 send.

Back to top.