Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Book Club 101

Tonight was book club.

If you're wondering what a meeting looks like, keep reading.
If you're not wondering, just skip this post. Could be boring for you.

Who am I kidding? It's likely going to be boring, regardless.

So.

Our group has between 8 - 10 enthusiastic readers.
Two of us share the joy of hosting the meetings in our homes, the others take turns providing a snack.
All of us recommend books to read. And whoever's recommendation is chosen will lead the discussion on that selection. Our only rule regarding recommendations is that the book has to have been read. A person can't recommend a book on heresay.

This month's read was The Man Called Ove.




(Which by the way, is a great book. I highly recommend it.)

For a lively discussion to take place, it helps if everyone has read the book. And it's especially helpful if everyone has read it fairly recently. Trying to recall the details of a book one read in high school makes it difficult to contribute to the conversation.

It was my turn to host.

And also my turn to provide a snack.

So I stopped in at IGA after work and picked up something suitable.









































I set out the lemon cream cake, the fruit, tea things (no one is coffee drinker in our group), fill up the jug with ice water, put glasses, plates, forks, spoons and knives on the table, then put some water on to boil.










































At 7 pm these seats are starting to fill and by 7:15, whoever is leading says something like, "Well? Should we get started?"






























In most cases, the discussion facilitator will have printed out some background material, either of the story or the author or both, and reads it to us. It's always Very Interesting.

We move on then to suggested book club questions which are readily available on the internet.  Tonight. we used these questions as a springboard to a two hour conversation about Ove, his neighbours, his marriage, his relationships and as per always, how this book mirrored incidents and people in our own lives.


After the discussion winds down, we talk about the following month. Book recommendations, date options, and so on. Typically by 9:30, most meetings end.


And that's it.
It's one of my favorite nights of the month.


Three things I'm thankful for:

1. Good books.
2. Writers of good books.
3. Friends who like to talk about books.

Shalom,
xo

2 comments:

September said...

I NEED TO MOVE TO BC. This sounds so lovely Jane. What book did you chose or will you choose when it's your turn? Does the group only read fiction? You probably wouldn't like me because I'd be all, let's read self help!

Jane said...

BC is awesome! For more reasons than just my book club. Haha.
We read a variety of genre's. Fiction. And non-ficion. Biographies. Self help. Business. Contemporary. Classics.

We would love you. I just know it.