Book Club Experience

I observed a book club back in January. My local library only runs two book clubs at the moment geared towards adults, and I wanted to make sure I was able to participate in one of them. Though the system has few book clubs, they’re interesting ones (and there was discussion of 2-4 more book clubs that would be starting at the library in the coming months), the one I chose to observe met monthly at a rotating list of bars in town. Appetizers were provided at no cost.

The books chosen for the club didn’t stick to a specific genre, and were chosen quarterly by the group, which aligned with the book choice tips discussed in Starting a Book Club (n.d.). It also appears they they do ‘bring your own book’ meetings roughly once a quarter, which I could see being appealing. For January, the club was reading The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North. This month the book is Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, and next month will be Dark Matter by Blake Crouch.

I did inform the librarian beforehand that I’d be attending, and taking notes. I also made an effort to read the book beforehand, and made it three quarters of the way through before the meeting - I still haven’t finished the book, honestly, and I’m not sure I will. It was an intriguing premise, and I liked the way North writes for the most part, but alternating time frames each chapter seriously slowed the plot down and it was hard to hold my interest. I did have enough read to participate in the conversation, though.

The leader of the group was the librarian running it, and she did have a list of questions that we ended up discussing. She had (or at least appeared to have) read the book, and did participate in the conversation after the group had a chance to respond to her questions. The group consisted of seven total, including the librarian, and three to four of the attendees seemed to be regulars. It was a roughly even split between men and women, which was refreshing.

The timing of the event influenced participation: this particular meeting was held at 5:30 in the evening, and during a discussion of future meetings it was revealed that most of the other meetings were held after 6:30, and resulted in higher attendance rates. The times were contingent on how late the bars and restaurants were open, however, which is part of what restricted January’s meeting. The librarian noted that for future meetings she’d be choosing venues that would be able to accommodate a later meeting time so more people could attend.

The book club ran for roughly two hours. The first 5-10 minutes were spent on introductions, and then the bulk of the time was spent discussing the book. About halfway through, we were asked about choosing appetizers, and there was then a brief period dedicated to eating. Administrative matters were held until the end of the meeting, which I found interesting after reading Starting a Book Club, where they mention completing administrative tasks first (n.d.). I feel like it worked for this group though, and everyone stuck around to see where the next meeting would be and what the next book would be. Since the next book was a title that the reader chose, not one book for the whole group, there were some questions regarding what would count within the BYOB category (it needed to be a biography on an artist or musician, and she said she'd give book lists to people if they wanted them).

As the group was relatively small, the entire group participated in conversation, and even though I tried to stay in somewhat of an observatory roll as opposed to participatory, I did find myself participating quite frequently over the course of the event. I do wonder how things would have gone had I attended one of the meetings with more members. There were some questions that didn’t really start a conversation but might have if there had been more people there with differing opinions (for the most part, everyone seemed to feel the same about the book). Some were more frequent participants, but no one took over the conversation.

As the book club took place at a bar, the atmosphere was extremely relaxed. As it was a Monday night, it was relatively quiet and we were definitely the largest group there that evening. Appetizers were provided at no cost to participants, and we had our choice in which appetizers we received (we got two for the group total - it was more than enough food). Drinks were available, but each participant paid for their own. Two of the members also bought entrees, but it wasn’t required one way or the other, and no one minded that they got more food.

The venue is part of what drew me to wanting to attend this book club over the other book club that the library holds, which occurs monthly in one of the library meeting rooms. While this sounded fine, I was much more intrigued by the prospect of meeting at a different location each month. One of the other book clubs the library will soon be starting will occur monthly on Sunday mornings, and be held at various coffee houses around town, which I also thought sounded intriguing and a nice option for individuals who don’t like to drink.

While the library only currently oversees two adult book clubs (with a few more planned) they do keep a healthy collection of book club kits. These kits contain 8 books and checkout for longer than the standard checkout period, allowing enough time for everyone in the group to read and participate in discussion. They have quite a selection of kits available that contain genres beyond those that the library run book clubs discuss, which is a nice option for individuals who want to hold their own clubs.

Overall, I really enjoyed the group and would love to go again, but at the moment it conflicts with my work schedule, making attending a hassle. I enjoyed that it was laid back, and that the venue changed each month. I also appreciated their variety in book choices - they are ones that I mean to read, but likely wouldn’t get around to on my own, and they contain enough material to keep the conversation interesting. I imagine going during meetings where more individuals were in attendance would make the conversations more interesting, too.




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(n.d.) Starting a Book Club. I Love Libraries. (n.p.) Retrieved from http://www.ilovelibraries.org/booklovers/bookclub/bookclub