I recently found a local meetup.org “Book Club for Young Professionals”. I find I have to make a conscious effort to meet other young people, and it seems like an active group with plenty of young people (I don’t personally care if they’re professional or not). I never really thought about joining a book club, but I can’t think of any reason I wouldn’t like to either.
Actually, after giving it some thought though I realized I have a really limited understanding of what a book club is. It seems like it should be pretty self evident but now that I’m thinking of actually joining one I’d like to understand better what I can expect.
So the question is: Does anyone care to share their experience with a book club? What are they like and what should I expect and do I need to do more to prepare besides reading the book?
Bookmarks Magazine features a different book club in each issue. Sadly, those articles aren’t available on-line – they’d be a great resource.
What I remember from reading about the different clubs is that they were all pretty much the same. People gather on a regular basis to discuss a book they’ve agreed to read.
The clubs mixed things up (as far as genre, fiction/non-fiction) but they all seemed to have one rule – if you’re in the club, you read the book. Some clubs took suggestions from members and voted. Some clubs rotated, with members taking turns choosing a book. Some clubs met in people’s homes, with a host providing snacks or dinner; some did potlucks; some met in public places, like libraries and friendly cafes. Many clubs alternated challenging books with easier books.
Some clubs had formal discussions using reading guides. Some were just chat sessions.
All the clubs sounded like fun. If your library carries Bookmarks magazine (it’s a great magazine), check out the articles on the clubs.
Mostly friendly people, but some opinionated & strident. BTW, I crashed the one I went to because I saw a hot chick going to it - that is, this was via Meetup.com, where members RSVP, and u can see their profile pic. So what do I mean by ‘crashed’? I didn’t read the book - I showed up, sat quietly and absorbed what others were saying 1st, then I commented on what I knew from general knowledge & basically recapitulated what was said previously. This went on for a couple of meetings, while I got to know the chick who drew me to the club in the 1st place. We’re still friends 3 yr.s l8r.
Later on I actually read some of the boox they discussed (before the meeting), & the experience wasn’t that different. Our particular club is fun also because I have a smartfone & another guy brings his laptop, so we can fact-check and bring up select passages while the meeting is in progress. For example, on Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, we verified the story of the Japan Airlines crash and how culture played a part, then looked up causes of other crashes while the meeting kept going.
So what u can expect is in the beginning, ull listen > talk, but as time goes by ull participate in discussion too. Especially if u actually read the book beforehand.
I have a bookclub that is a little different than what would be featured in “bookmarks”
The bookclub has been going on for seventeen years. And most of the members knew each other for a decade prior to that.
You DON’T need to read the book and its seldom the only topic of conversation (sometimes it isn’t the topic of conversation at all). Usually its a starting point for other conversations. Book club is really an excuse for us to get together, plow through a few bottles of wine and something sweet.
But my kind of bookclub isn’t something you join to meet people - strangers don’t do well in it.
