Glenda Shaw talks about her book club, The Literary Lyres, located in California’s San Fernando Valley. It is comprised of 12 women, all of whom are alumni members of the national Alpha Chi Omega sorority, which was founded in the 1880s as a musical sorority with the lyre as its symbol --- hence the group’s name. In this interview, Glenda shares some of her club’s favorite reads as well as the thematic dishes, cocktails and occasional attire that accompany titles.

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

A: We are all alumnae of national sorority Alpha Chi Omega who are currently residing in the San Fernando Valley suburb of Los Angeles, CA. We are all ages and backgrounds. Our sorority was originally founded in 1885 as a music sorority with its symbol being the musical lyre. We call ourselves the Literary Lyres. We have been together for seven years.

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

A: We have 12 members. We range in age from 30s to 70s. We are all female.

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

A: We meet monthly at a private residence. Q: Do you eat at your meetings? What do you eat? Who brings the food?

A: We usually have a potluck dinner themed around the book. We each bring the recipe to exchange. We have collected so many recipes over the years that we compiled a cookbook.

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

A: I am the leader. We often use reading group guides.

Q: How do you choose your books? Do you choose one new book at each meeting, or do you choose the books for number of meetings ahead of time?

A: At least one person must have read the book ahead of time, preferably two. We pick our books several months in advance traditionally. Q: What were some of the best discussions or favorite books the group read?

A: Our all-time favorite book was Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: When we read Black and White by Dani Shapiro, we dressed in black and white and ate off black and white dishes. Once we had a pajama party. We try to theme our evening's cocktail around the book. For example, for A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, the main character was (allegedly) wanted in three states, so our cocktail was “The Alabama Slammer.” Also, when we read The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, we had Manhattans.

Q: What advice would you give other reading groups?

A: Keep in mind people's interest levels. Try to maintain diversity.

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

A: We set up a speakerphone call with an author in New York and confirmed it with her and everything. When we called her at the agreed upon time, we just got her voice mail. Needless to say, the book clubbers were hugely disappointed. When I finally reached her the next day, she said she thought it was three hours earlier in New York than Los Angeles. I hope she never has to catch a plane.

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

A: Being in the reading group has allowed me to meet and become friends with people who I ordinarily would never have had an opportunity to get to know on that level.

We have been very lucky in contacting authors and having them join our discussion via speakerphone. It adds an extra dimension to the discussion.

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