According to Barbara Mulligan of Weymouth, MA, members of "Unfinished Women" know how to keep their meetings lighthearted and have bonded quite well with one another. In this interview Barbara explains why her book club has been so successful and reveals what they have done to "make [their] hearts happy."

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

A: Our group's name is "Unfinished Women" and we've been meeting for 2 1/2 years.

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

A: We have 14 members, all of them are women, and the ages range from 38-61.

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

A: We meet once a month at my house.

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

A: We eat all kinds of stuff. You name it, we eat it! The person whose book we are discussing brings the food.

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

A:The person whose book we are discussing leads the group. We use our own guide.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: Most of our books are fiction.

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 each have a turn choosing a book. We choose them one month at a time.

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

A: The best discussion so far has been A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Another favorite was The Elegant Gathering of White Snows.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: We have the absolute funniest group ever. One of our members could definitely do stand-up comedy. We are a very diverse group who has bonded quite nicely. Not too many members knew each other before we started so it has been wonderful watching the closeness develop.

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

A: Our advice would be to respect each other's opinions and to laugh, laugh, laugh.

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

A: Our only tale to tell would be that we love our group and we think we shall be meeting forever.

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

A: We have adopted two soldiers in Iraq, and we send them stuff. It makes our hearts happy.

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