TIOLI - October 2011 - Challenge #16: Read a book that you will be discussing in a face-to-face book

The Heading should read: Challenge #16: Read a book you will be discussing in a face-to-face book GROUP!

Let’s Talk About It… That’s the name of the book group I belong to at the local library -- and that’s what this thread is all about. So let’s share some book group experiences.

A bit of background from The Reading Group Book by David Laskin and Holly Hughes:

Anne Hutchinson may have started the first literary discussion group in The Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634 when she invited women to her parlor to discuss the weekly sermon. Apparently the men in the community felt left out because they banished her!

Since that time, book groups have fared better. There was a proliferation of clubs where women found a way to gather and relax from chores while learning from books and each other. After World War II, The Great Books movement swept the country and made intellectual companionship popular for a wide variety of men and women. Most of today’s book groups are more relaxed and don’t have the fixed agenda of the Great Books Foundation.

“We join because we love books and love to talk about books, or because we want a push to read more or read more widely, or because we want to meet fellow book lovers. We cherish our book groups because here and only here can we kick off our shoes, let our hair down, and say exactly what we feel about subjects we really care about.” (Pg. 17)

I'm reading Brighton Rock for my RL book circle this month (at the suggestion of ffortsa/Judy!) so this is a great fit... The only problem is that because of the film, it's impossible to get a copy from the library.

I'm planning to read Lady Vernon and Her Daughter by Jane Rubino in October. I attend a Jane Austen Book Club, and this academic year we'll be discussing works inspired by Jane Austen. This is the one I'll be presenting when it's my turn (probably in a later month).

I have a ladies group that will be having its first book discussion in October and we are reading Case Histories.

>2 Chatterbox:: Suzanne, I think it's cool that you are in a book group with some LT members. I'm curious, did you all join LT after the book group or did your friendship on LT inspire the book group?

>3 cbl_tn:: Carrie Beth, I like the idea of a Jane Austen Book Club. Have you read the book by Karen Joy Fowler? I can't remember too much about it, but I did like the summaries of the JA books in the back.

>4 cyderry:: Hi Cheli. I loved Case Histories. Does your book group meet in each other's homes?

I'll be reading Lonesome Dove for my book group on Oct. 6. I need to get going on it. It's a behemoth!

We always meet the first Thursday of the month at 6:30 in one of the library's meeting rooms. The librarian makes tea, but other than that, there are no refreshments to distract us. One of the book clubs I visited in Florida centered its meetings around the food. I like to eat, but the book seemed to get lost in all the talk about the food!

Actually, Donna, the ladies group is at the country club we belong to. We thought during the winter when it's not exactly golf weather, we could read and still enjoy each other's company and time together.

Donna, I think I love you. For October my RL book club (the Breakfast Book Club at my local library) is reading Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji. I've never heard of either the book or the author before, and I'm not that interesting in reading another book about Tehran, but having a book club to discuss it with makes all the difference. I hope I like it.

ETA and I'm jealous that you get to read Lonesome Dove for your book club. I do love that book.

This was a book circle that has been in operation for well over a decade -- 15 or 16 years? Richard has been in since the beginning; he invited me to join and then Judy & her husband began coming as well. I'm not a big fan of a lot of book clubs, as the discussion is rarely serious (just in my experience) and too often it's a group of women sitting around and talking. Which is just fine, but I don't want a book club discussion to be limited to everyone talking about why they didn't like a character, or how the book's events remind them of people they know, etc. The discussion at this one -- however frustrating it can be for some of us trying to get a word in edgewise -- is for the most part very very intelligent. Even when the bottom line is that "I didn't like this book", that doesn't automatically mean people make the next leap and say "therefore, it's a bad book". And in almost all cases, I have learned something from the discussion.

I'm leading our group on the 13th for Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi.

>6 cyderry:: Cheli, maybe the book group will take off and you can discuss books while you play golf next summer! My canasta group meets in a country club. Love the ambience. We have nice surroundings and an excellent lunch. The best part is, nobody has to clean or cook anything.

>7 Citizenjoyce:: I can feel the love, Joyce! You make a good point about the discussion making a less desirable book more palatable. I thought I was through with Hemingway until I read A Farewell to Arms for my book group. He's still not my favorite author, but I do appreciate him more after a good discussion.

>8 Chatterbox:: Thanks for the explanation of your book group, Suzanne. Isn't it great when people can make an articulate argument for their stance on a book without ruffling feathers? I would be very unhappy in a purely social book "club".

My group started out as a lecture from a Drury literature professor and evolved into a group of like-minded individuals talking about books. There is a core group of serious readers, but it is open to the public. I wonder if we'll get anybody in western garb for our talk on Lonesome Dove?

>9 Morphidae:: You will have lots to talk about with Reading Lolita in Tehran, Morphy. Be sure and report back to us on how well the book was received, etc.

> lol. I'm not sure the group Suzanne and I share omits ruffling feathers!

As you might expect from Suzanne's comments, I too am reading Brighton Rock for our book club - in fact, I suggested it and will have to come up with some biographical and other information, as is expected in this group.

Before that, I will be reading The Moviegoer by Walker Percy for a meetup group I've belonged to for quite a few years. We have a fairly consistent core of attendees, and various concentric circles of sometimes, rarely, and new faces. It's a moderated group, in that the pattern is to go around the room once, introducing yourself by name and giving a precis of your thoughts about the book, after which there is a free discussion, after which we do the round-the-room thing again to say how the discussion impacted us, if at all. It's sometimes a little less - um - intellectual in tone than the group Suz and I attend together, but often very interesting, and I've frequently read books I would never have come across without someone's suggestion. For example, someone selectedMontana 1948, which I might not have found for years, and we also read Choke, which I would never have picked up on my own and really enjoyed. Of course, we also read The Broom of the System - alas. We read both classics, like Moby Dick and Wuthering Heights, and newer works. Right now we're looking for a new venue - we meet in the evening on the first Tuesday of the month. A bookstore that had been accommodating us for quite a while decided they wanted to charge a hefty fee for their space, and free quiet indoor space is hard to find at that time of day.

I'm also in a read-out-loud group that started at the American Association of University Women New York City branch, which is currently in total turmoil. Since that meets on Saturday mornings, we had an easier time finding a venue. Our local library manager was happy to accommodate us for free at that time. We're currently reading the new Pinsky translation of The Inferno. In this group of between 7 and 10 we have an emeritus professor of poetry as a member and guide.

During the last meeting, I also realized I enjoyed a book, The House at Riverton, more than I thought I did after our discussion.

My group is reading Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie.

I shall be looking to see what others post, as I do not have a face-to-face book club. I used to go to the one at our local bookstore, but that turned into a bunch of people just talking about themselves and not the book, so I stopped going.

>11 ffortsa: That read-aloud book group met this morning. The library venue is fantastic - a lovely long oak table, pretty good lighting, which is important for our (mostly) older readers, and very quiet. And the Pinsky translation - oh my. So lovely to read out loud. I'd forgotten - or perhaps didn't like the translation of - the Dante I'd read in school. This is fabulous. I recommend it to all, especially if you can read it out loud, even just to yourself.

The Walker Percy, due on Tuesday, is going swimmingly (how appropriate - it's pouring outside). I'll probably finish it tonight, and may reread all or part of it before Tuesday evening. I'd forgotten how ironic the narrative voice can be.

Hi Donna! Sadly, I don't have a RL book group at the moment. I am wondering if a city-wide read would count for this challenge. (DC is doing DC Reads from Oct 15-Nov 15; the book is The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore.)

>11 ffortsa:,15: Judy, it sounds like you keep busy keeping up with your book groups. I think the read-aloud group sounds like a unique way to get together to enjoy books. How cool that you have a facilitator with a background in poetry. That is one genre where I would be completely lost. Please keep us updated on your other book groups as they meet during the month.

>12 Morphidae:: Morphy, I haven't read The House at Riverton. I'm glad the discussion was beneficial to you.

I can think of several more books that profited from a good discussion. Madame Bovary and Beloved come to mind. I wonder if anyone has changed to a more negative opinion of a book after discussing it.

>13 carlym:: Hi Carly, I haven't read Foreign Affairs but any book worthy of a Pulitzer Prize is on my reading radar. I hope you can share your thoughts about the book and tell us more about your book group.

>14 lahochstetler:: Laurie, I wouldn't stay in a book group like that either. It would be disappointing to invest hours in reading and thinking about a book and then drift into other subjects. Did someone from the bookstore moderate the discussion? It kind of sounds like they just provided a place to meet and didn't attempt to make it a meaningful book experience.

>16 AnneDC:: You raise an interesting question, Anne. I hadn't considered a city-wide read. I'm thinking that if you get together with someone else and talk about this book that it would meet the criteria. The idea was to read a book and discuss it face-to-face. So I'll leave it up to you to find another person or persons to converse about The Other Wes Moore. It looks like a book that would generate an interesting conversation.

Our library usually schedules a book discussion relating to the current city-wide read. Here inn Springfield, MO, we read Gods and Generals which was followed up by a visit from the author, Jeff Shaara. I missed the author talk but the group discussion was enjoyable.

I wonder if anyone has changed to a more negative opinion of a book after discussing it.

Now there's an interesting question, Donna. I imagine that would be very rare. It seems that if a book makes you think enough to be involved in a discussion, that's a great plus in its favor. I know I had very harsh things to say about both Little Women and The Hour I First Believed at my book club, but I don't think that made anyone who already liked the books like them any less.

My experience tallies. I have had the opposite experience, finding new ways to look at a work that struck me as rewarding, and once or twice I reread the material because of that.

We had a lively book discussion tonight about Lonesome Dove. I finished the last of 843 pages around 3:00 p.m. today. At least it was fresh in mind for the book talk. And talk we did! The fourteen people attending all loved the book which sometimes leads to a pretty dull chat. However, there were so many details to discuss that the 90+ minutes flew by.

Our facilitator had this interesting info on a handout:

Born in 1936 in Wichita Falls, McMurtry worked as a ranch hand until he realized, at 23, that he would never succeed as a cowboy because of his "profound disinterest in cows." So he gave up herding cattle in favor of "herding words across the spacious ranges of literature."

Well, McMurtry used his knowledge of cows and his love of words to create a panoramic novel about a cattle drive and the hardships that shaped the lives of the diverse characters that came to life on the pages. Good job, Larry!

Next month's book will be The Handmaid's Tale. I'll be surprised if everyone has the same love for that book.

I sometimes take my grandson to a wonderful dude ranch in Colorado, Rainbow Trout Ranch, and read the book while I was there last year. The scene with the lightning in the cows horns was so powerful and seemed so mystical I asked if there was such a thing and was assured by one of the cowboys that it does occur.

>21 Citizenjoyce:: Thanks, Joyce, that's good to know. I had the same question but we were such a chatty group tonight that I didn't get to ask.

What a great setting to read Lonesome Dove. I read part of it in Texas last week end, although we were in Dallas. I didn't see any cows. ;-)

When I started this challenge, I didn't know it was National Reading Group Month. I must be psychic!

From today's Shelf Awareness for Readers...

From the Shelf
National Reading Group Month

October is National Reading Group Month, an occasion marked across the country by librarians, booksellers and others who regularly help tens of thousands of reading groups members find the best books to read and discuss--accompanied, in many cases, by good wine and gossip!

The Women's National Book Association, official sponsor of National Reading Group Month, has compiled the 2011 Great Group Reads, a list of 20 books--17 novels and three memoirs--that the selection committee found will "open up lively conversations about a host of timely and provocative topics." Most of the titles are lesser-known gems from smaller presses and mid-list books from larger houses. WNBA is also holding events around the country. For more information, go to


http://www.nationalreadinggroupmonth.org/

carlym - since you posted Foreign Affairs I also picked it off my TBR, for the sake of a shared read. I've just finished it, and I really loved it. Thanks! I hope your book group enjoys it as much.

My reading group meets tomorrow and I finished our book just in time - Rooftops of Tehran. This is Mahbod Seraji's first novel, and he's not a very good writer. I can't imagine wanting to read another book by him. I learned a fair amount about Iranian history and the love-hate relationship the people have with the US, but I can't say I developed fond feeling for them except for the best friend Ahmed. They seem to be a people who value lies over truth, magic over reality and use romance as an opiate. I didn't for one minute buy the romance between the two characters, and since it made up for more than half of the book, I'd have to say the novel part of the novel was a failure.

#24: That's good to hear! We're meeting Sunday--I have to read the book tomorrow :)

>24 wandering_star:: After your praise, Margaret, I'm adding Foreign Affairs to my list of books to look for at tomorrow's library book sale. If I don't have any luck, there's always the library... or Amazon.

>25 Citizenjoyce:: Joyce, I had Rooftops checked out of the library sometime last year and returned it unread. I can't remember now if I didn't like the beginning or just ran out of time. I think I'll let it gather dust in the library.

>26 carlym:: Let us know how the discussion goes, Carly. At least the book will be fresh in your mind. I'm frequently reading the book right up until book group time. I'm not so much a procrastinator as one who doesn't want other book plots in my head right before a group discussion. At least that's what I tell myself. ;-)

I'm going to try to squeeze in another shared read of The Moviegoer with Judy. I've had my copy for ages. I noticed when I took it down from the shelf that it is a National Book Award winner for 1962. Not bad for a first book!

Ah, I'd love to know your thoughts on The Moviegoer when you finish.

My group really liked Foreign Affairs. Tonight was the first time that everyone who attended actually read the whole book all the way through (usually we have one or two who haven't read or only read part of it), plus a couple of people who couldn't make it also finished the book. I think one thing we liked about it was that it was just a straightforward novel: no weird techniques, jumping around, etc. that sometimes makes a book hard to get through. It also gave us a lot to talk about because the characters got themselves into interesting relationships and predicaments, but in a realistic way, not a ridiculous way.