Book Club Experience

Running since August 2012, there is a lunch book group that meets at our local bookstore/cafe, Three Sisters Books & Gifts, (the cafe is called The Bookmark.) They meet at noon on the last Tuesday of each month. I attended the meeting on February 26, 2019. 

For this meeting, the group read Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. There were three members present and two of the three had read the book. One mentioned she did not get to it and a fourth member was not coming because she had not read the book either (she did not get it in time from the library). All three ordered lunch and settled in to discuss the book. The one who did not read it said that she was interested in reading it in the future, but that she wasn't concerned with spoilers for this one because she knew it was based on historical facts. However, the other two did refrain from talking about everything in order to save her from knowing how a few things turned out for some fictional characters.

There does seem to be one person who facilitates the discussion. She starts by asking a question and then allows the others in the group to answer before contributing her own opinions. Others will chime in with their own questions as well, but she ensures that the conversation does not start to lag or go too long with a silence. She mostly asked open-ended questions that would require more conversation to happen between the members. Even the member who didn't read the book participated as she had looked up the history behind the book. She wanted to know if Georgia, the woman who sold the children, was portrayed as thinking she was doing a good deed or knowing she was doing horrendous acts. It seems that all members get along well and no one member swoops in and attempts to steal the spotlight from another. 

The discussion leader did quite a few things right, according to I Love Libraries. When facilitating a discussion, one thing to do is to ask a generic question and throw it out to the group. She also would pick a specific character and ask members to comment on him or her, but she didn't ask the simple question of "did you like her?" She would ask "why do you think she acted like that and what do you think happened to her after that? Why?" It was really interesting to see how she could she draw so much out of the members with such a small question.

The meeting is held at the cafe adjacent to a bookstore. It's either held at a reserved table in the back or at some comfortable chairs near the front of the cafe depending on what else is going on, according to one of the members. There are four regular members and occasionally someone else might show up, like me.They advertise the book club in their store and on their Facebook page. They order their food as soon as they get there so they have time to get it and eat it before their lunch break is up. The ladies who work at The Bookmark know their orders and only ask if the members "want their usual" before they begin making their lunches. The book club members seem to know a lot of the people who frequent the cafe as well so there are some friendly interruptions to say hello. 

There appears to be quite a mix to the books chosen for the book group. Talking with the book group members, it seems they will read nearly anything. They have taken to having one member of the group bring suggestions each month for the following month's book. They have read memoirs, thrillers, mysteries, horrors, romance, classics, literary fiction, and young adult. There really doesn't seem to be anything they will shy away from if it is suggested. The one genre I didn't hear titles from was science fiction. I'm assuming, based on the way I was told they choose books, none of them are huge sci-fi readers. Their only restriction is that the books chosen have to be old enough to be in paperback in case any member wants to buy the book.

This was a fun experience and I felt welcomed as I joined their group. I might even go back someday.

Works Cited

I Love Libraries, www.ilovelibraries.org/booklovers/bookclub/facilitate-discussion.