Let’s Talk About Book Clubs

[Fryan]

From other threads it seems as though a number of us are participating in book clubs. So I thought it would be interesting to share here about the various clubs we are all in. How do your club/s function? What are you reading? What books are people talking about? Do your book club members have good taste? Or are you fighting the good fight against their banal taste in books?

For me, I’m in two book groups. One is a silent book club. We meet at a different venue every month and sit around, drink, eat and read. At the end we share a bit about the books we are reading. It’s been a good way for me to get a huge chunk of uninterrupted reading in and meet new folks. One guy sent me a pdf of his poetry book (which I definitely need to read before the next meeting.)

My other book group is comprised of mostly American expats who are in some way attached to the US embassy here. (I randomly met some of them at a pottery class.). The way this group works is we each recommend a book, it gets added to a list and then people read one of the books from the list. This group likes SF/F and leans heavily towards popular titles. So Romantasy books and stuff like Dungeion Crawler Carl have been on the list. My recommendation of Dan Simmons’ The Terror has been a hit with the group. Yesteryear, the trad-wife portal fantasy was mentioned at our last meeting and has been really popular with the group. I often find it hard to find something on the list the group generates that I want to read. But it stretches my reading a bit, and the company and food/drink at the meetings is great.

So let’s hear about your book groups!

 

[Hobbit]

Hello, Fryan.

So: as I'm semiretired I have the luxury of being a member of three book groups local to me. Two of them meet every week in a pub: one on a Monday afternoon, one on a Wednesday evening. The other is once a month at local library.

The once a month group is specifically SF/Fantasy. It's a small group, about half a dozen of us. We choose a book that everyone will read and review the following month. We try and vary it, so we have had Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel, Brandon Sanderson's The Frugal Wizard's Guide to Medieval England, Adrian Tchaikovsky's Alien Clay, Ava Reid's Juniper & Thorn and others.

The other two groups are different. There are no set books; everyone brings in what they're reading and talks about what they thought. There is a difference here - the afternoon group are mainly older retirees, who love crime thrillers, Booker Prize nominees and classics. I am the lone SF representative, although to be fair they have tried some of my recommendations. Nothing too out there, though.

Having said that, the afternoon group like a theme and a book of the month, and will meet once a month for a little bit longer to discuss those. There is no set pattern, no forcing members to read - you can join in, but no pressure to do so.

The evening group is, by accident, more SF/Fantasy orientated, with most of the group young women who love ACTOTAR and romantasy, although we cover everything from prize nominees to non-fiction. There are a couple of us who are more traditional SF/Fantasy. I tend to mention my SFFWorld reads there, but others as well.

Both groups have about 12-20 regulars, with others joining in through WhatsApp.

How's that?

Generally, in the UK book clubs definitely seem to be on the up. Lots of bars and restaurants are now offering book evenings - I am lucky that I could go to three or four a week around me. Of the big chains, Waterstones have events most weeks and their own book clubs as well.

I'm very pleased to see this, personally. When I was younger, there were no such things near me, no social media... hearing others love books and reading (whether SF & Fantasy or not) fills me with joy.

 

[Ropie]

Interesting posts, I'm not and never have been a member of any reading club. My only interaction with other readers is on this forum. I have to say the idea of reading in a group doesn't appeal to me. Like running, I just prefer to do it alone.

 

[dannymcg]

I went to try a book club last year at my local library, afternoon sessions every fortnight.
It wasn't my thing and I left it after 2 meetings.

They were going through The Shining when I first went and it was so tedious and annoying.
They were reading out favourite parts and it was like being at school listening to them struggle with pronunciation.

They'd been reading it at home and then telling the meeting how far they'd got.....I think it was new to them all because they kept mentioning how it differed from the film.

Being an old SK hand I was tempted to discuss the ending! Especially in the second meeting I went to where they seemed to have averaged another 3 chapters, my brain was like
"wut! 3 chapters in a fortnight?"

 

[Fryan]

Hello, Fryan.

So: as I'm semiretired I have the luxury of being a member of three book groups local to me. Two of them meet every week in a pub: one on a Monday afternoon, one on a Wednesday evening. The other is once a month at local library.

The once a month group is specifically SF/Fantasy. It's a small group, about half a dozen of us. We choose a book that everyone will read and review the following month. We try and vary it, so we have had Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel, Brandon Sanderson's The Frugal Wizard's Guide to Medieval England, Adrian Tchaikovsky's Alien Clay, Ava Reid's Juniper & Thorn and others.

The other two groups are different. There are no set books; everyone brings in what they're reading and talks about what they thought. There is a difference here - the afternoon group are mainly older retirees, who love crime thrillers, Booker Prize nominees and classics. I am the lone SF representative, although to be fair they have tried some of my recommendations. Nothing too out there, though.

Having said that, the afternoon group like a theme and a book of the month, and will meet once a month for a little bit longer to discuss those. There is no set pattern, no forcing members to read - you can join in, but no pressure to do so.

The evening group is, by accident, more SF/Fantasy orientated, with most of the group young women who love ACTOTAR and romantasy, although we cover everything from prize nominees to non-fiction. There are a couple of us who are more traditional SF/Fantasy. I tend to mention my SFFWorld reads there, but others as well.

Both groups have about 12-20 regulars, with others joining in through WhatsApp.

How's that?

Generally, in the UK book clubs definitely seem to be on the up. Lots of bars and restaurants are now offering book evenings - I am lucky that I could go to three or four a week around me. Of the big chains, Waterstones have events most weeks and their own book clubs as well.

I'm very pleased to see this, personally. When I was younger, there were no such things near me, no social media... hearing others love books and reading (whether SF & Fantasy or not) fills me with joy.

Sounds like some pretty good groups! Nice to hear that book clubs are thriving in the UK! I’m in Zambia right now and there isn’t much of a bookish culture here, unfortunately. So I’m happy to have found some people who just like to read no matter what types of books they read.

I’ll add that my book group’s WhatsApp chat is also pretty active for informal recommendations and book chatter.

 

[Fryan]

Interesting posts, I'm not and never have been a member of any reading club. My only interaction with other readers is on this forum. I have to say the idea of reading in a group doesn't appeal to me. Like running, I just prefer to do it alone.

I’m normally not a book club person either, but I moved here not really knowing anyone, so book clubs have been a good way for me to be social around a topic I love.

 

[Fryan]

I went to try a book club last year at my local library, afternoon sessions every fortnight.
It wasn't my thing and I left it after 2 meetings.

They were going through The Shining when I first went and it was so tedious and annoying.
They were reading out favourite parts and it was like being at school listening to them struggle with pronunciation.

They'd been reading it at home and then telling the meeting how far they'd got.....I think it was new to them all because they kept mentioning how it differed from the film.

Being an old SK hand I was tempted to discuss the ending! Especially in the second meeting I went to where they seemed to have averaged another 3 chapters, my brain was like
"wut! 3 chapters in a fortnight?"

That sounds rough! The pacing would be way too slow for me as well. And goes to show that finding that right fitting book group isn’t easy. I once, many years back, was part of a SF/F book group organized through a book shop and I only lasted about 3-4 meetings. I found that the group would only heap effusive praise on the book no matter what and I would wind up being the only person who had anything critical to say. So I decided to bow out of that group since it wasn’t a great fit.

Thankfully the folks in my book groups are “book first, then watch the movie/show” type people. Which I definitely prefer.

 

[Raf]

Interesting posts, I'm not and never have been a member of any reading club. My only interaction with other readers is on this forum. I have to say the idea of reading in a group doesn't appeal to me. Like running, I just prefer to do it alone.

Same here.

 

[krisbslick]

Interesting hearing about all your book clubs around the world. I've never heard of a silent book club before!

Mark - of course you have 3 book clubs!

I've had two book clubs I've been a part of:

Current SF Book Club:
I wrote briefly about my current SF book club in the August thread, but I'll elaborate a little. It's through a local bookstore. There's a group leader, who is the co-owner of the shop. We meet once per month and need to have finished the book for the discussion meeting. After each meeting, he'll select two new books and have the group vote on the next book via a google form. He'll offer the winning book for sale in the shop as an option a few days later. The shop runs another 4 or 5 different book clubs as well including fantasy and horror (different leaders).

The group is fairly large (20ish people) and there seem to be a handful who like to listen to their own voices. The leader is good at leading the discussion and tries to get the less vocal people involved too. It might my personal quibble, but it's just weird how pedantic some of them are, dissecting every little thing in a book. Also, that being said, the books chosen while I've been there haven't been my cup of tea, so there's that. I've been going for 4 months, I'm hoping the books are more to my liking down the road. Oh - I really like that one of the members will make (usually bake) a themed dessert for that month's book for the group haha.

Previous Book Club:
Years ago, I started a smaller group, which I coordinated amongst friends and significant others of said friends. Usually consisting of 6 to 8 people. My initial two goals for the group were to 1) have more social life during the weekdays and 2) try out different genres. We rotated book selection, so each member got a pick. This worked out really well since there was no debate or voting issues. It ran for years and I'd consider it pretty successful - we read over 75 books and had a reason to meet up with friends on a regular basis. Once people started having families and other priories, we decided to close up shop since getting schedules aligned was nearly impossible and the newly minted parents never had time to read.

Other Thoughts:
I don't know if you guys experienced this with your other clubs, but with the bigger group, there seems to be a kind of a herd-think going on too. Expressing a controversial opinion is kind of taboo. I've seen it firsthand with a few members in my current club. So people don't really speak up when they didn't like the book or something else. In my experience, having a smaller group is overall better, in that regard.

So those are my experiences with book clubs. I'm thinking slowly turning more towards Ropie and Danny's side of things, where reading is more of a solo endeavor or just discussing in an informal manner. (such as interacting on the forum here, of course!)