Book Club Experience

The benefit of working at a library and working on my MLS is that many assignments I work on correlate directly with what I do already, as well as ideas and projects I plan to do at the library. That being said, this assignment lined up with my ambition to start a book club for teens. I do not want to do a book club where everyone reads the same book. I prefer open book chats. You do not have to worry about reading a book you may not like. Most of the book clubs hosted by the library or advertised by the library are book chats that promote people discussing what they are reading rather than reading a single book. Open book chats also have the ability to feature books that you have never heard of before. There is a book club at a branch I used to work at hosted by patrons, and they usually do what is popular. This is of course great for those authors. As the article “Read Well with Others” by Bill Goldstein states, “a title popular with book groups has an extended life, and sales may even increase over time” (Goldstein). I rather hear about books I would never think to pick up or ever see lying around.

The book chat I participated at for this assignment was one of the library branches that hosts a book chat every first Monday of the month. I let the branch manager and book chat leader know I will be attending and that I wanted to shadow so I can learn how to set up a similar program for teens. I was told the majority of those who attend this book chat are retired women, and most are regulars to the book chat.

The person and leading the book discussion was a library assistant who worked at the branch. This book chat was different than her normal ones because she had a guest speaker from IU South Bend come and speak about a few of the books she has written. Because of this special guest, we did not get to the actual book chat until about 45 minutes later. It’s only an hour program but it went on for about 75 minutes due to the guest. However, the guest sparked much discussion among the attendees during her time. Besides asking about how the author wrote her books, they asked questions about the books themselves. A couple of the attendees had read the book and shared their thoughts on the book. One attendee mentioned how she loved the book because it tackles the issue of women not being allowed to have the voice they want, and that the book was such a fun, easy read. This sparked a mini discussion about this topic today.

            After the guest speaker was finished, the leader opened the floor to anyone who wanted to share what they have been reading. An awkward few seconds went by before anyone said anything. The first attendee to speak up discussed a recent novel by Jonathon Kellerman. Another attendee who also recently read a few of his books chimed in, and somewhat overpowered the discussion. After the discussion on that first book was over, that same patron who overpowered the discussion said, “Well, since I am talking I guess I’ll go next.” She mentioned how, besides also reading Kellerman, she read a book called Pax by Sara Pennypacker. She said she purchased it thinking it was an adult novel, but later realized it was for kids. I was delighted to hear this because this is a book I read back in S571 Materials for Youth. I was able to chime in by saying I also read it, as well as what I thought about the book. I was worried I would have nothing to add to the discussion since I am not a huge reader at the moment. I followed up by mentioning another great children’s book for adults is The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. This same women at the end of the book chat also asked if anyone read The Women in the Window by A.J. Finn. Again, I was excited to hear this because I just read that book for this class two month ago! She asked me if it was worth finishing, to which I replied that it was because the intensity builds and it will be made into a movie, so it’s great to read it now before everyone else starts to read it.

The leader was very good about moving the discussion along, asking if anyone else had a book to share. When the guest speaker was there, I could tell the leader did her best to wrap up her time because she did speak longer than the leader had planned. Of the 10 or so people there, about 7 participated. I noticed that everyone did not bring a book to discuss, so I imagine people come to listen to what others are reading. As Bill Goldstein states, “clubs have become a potent network, organized loosely by their shared need for information about the books they are reading and for suggestions on what to read next” (Goldstein 32). I heard interesting stories about several books that I probably never would have heard about or considered.

 The leader participated when she had something to add, but she let people freely discuss whatever was presented. People mainly spoke about what they liked about the book they brought to discuss, and people agreed or disagreed with their statement. It was all very friendly even if someone did not like a book mentioned. That being said, the atmosphere was extremely friendly and stress-free. You can tell these women got to know each other through the book chat, and it was essentially a fun hangout.

Snacks and drinks are not provided at this book chat. However, she does have two tables set up as one long table to hold reading recommendations and library promotional materials. They appear to talk about any book, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction. The host takes notes about books discussed at the meeting, and then pulls a bunch of these books to be displayed at the next meeting. She also has a copy of her notes available for people to take home. Overall I had a great experience! When I complete my studies in May I hope to read more and to join a couple book discussions my library features.  

Works Cited

Goldstein, Bill. "Reads Well with Others." Publishers Weekly, vol. 252, no. 21, 23 May 2005, pp. 30-34. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lxh&AN=17114088&site=ehost-live.