Book Club Experience

I attended a book club at a public library earlier in March. The book club took place on a weekday evening and was an adult book club that reads YA books. In addition to the leader of the group, there were four attendees there that evening plus myself. I decided to let the group know from the beginning that I was attending for a class assignment.

Who is asking the questions, is there a leader or do people take turns?

There was a leader who was a staff member of the library and she asked the questions. She had a printed list of questions that I believe she said she had found on the internet.

If there is a leader, does the leader answer the questions as well or let the attendees respond first?

The leader let the attendees answer the questions first, but she also provided her own opinions as well generally after the others had answered. Everyone seemed to be very open and honest with their opinions, which included some decidedly negative feedback for the book being discussed.

What type of questions are asked? Any involving just yes or no answers?

The leader started most questions by saying things like, “So how did we feel about…” or “So what did we think about….” and then asking about a particular character, plot point, etc. I think she may have said something like, “Did we feel _____ was believable?” or something along those lines a couple times, but I didn’t get the impression that she was looking for just a yes or no answer, rather it was implied that she was asking for why as well. There was discussion regarding whether the characters and their motives and relationships were believable and whether or not the members of the book club cared about the characters and plot as they were reading.  There was also some discussion regarding the quality of the author’s writing itself.

Do all attendees actively participate?

One attendee had not read the book for that month, so he did not participate much. However, the other three attendees all fully participated and had a spirited discussion. Additionally, I felt that the leader tried to include me as much as possible in the discussion even though I had not read the book. After asking each question, she would generally turn to me and provide a brief explanation of what she was referring to in the book so that I could understand more of what was being discussed, which I appreciated.

According to a page on ilovelibraries.org about starting a book club in which the following content was provided by LitLovers.com, “8 to 16 members are best: enough for a discussion if several are absent, but not so many that discussions become unwieldy” (LitLovers.com, 2009–2020). The book club I attended only had four regular members aside from the leader. However, I didn’t feel that this small number was necessarily a bad thing, because it provided each person with a good amount of time to talk during the meeting and I think everyone got to say everything they wanted to. However, I can see how having at least a few more regular members could be a positive thing for this book club in terms of adding more perspectives to the conversation and accounting for times when members have not read the book (especially since during this particular meeting only three members had read the book and one had not). Overall, I think a smaller book club can be successful as long as there is high attendance amongst the members and at least a majority of those who attend have read the book.

Do any attendees swoop in and steal all the spotlight?

None of the attendees talked too much or stole the spotlight. For the most part, each attendee gave their opinion in response to each question asked, but I didn’t feel that any one person was participating above and beyond what everyone else was doing.

What is the atmosphere of the discussion, where is it taking place at?

The book club took place in a meeting room at a public library. The atmosphere of the discussion was conversational and informal. I was told that the leader and attendees that were there that evening had all been friends prior to this book club beginning. The leader told me that they had hoped to gain more regular members over time and that they had had several other people attend the book club at different points, but that so far they hadn’t gained any new regular members.

Are snacks or drinks provided?

Snacks and drinks were not provided, but a couple people had drinks that they had brought with them.

What types of books does this book club normally discuss?

This book club discuses YA books.

Works Cited

LitLovers.com. (2009–2020). For Book Clubs. Retrieved from ilovelibraries: http://www.ilovelibraries.org/booklovers/bookclub/start-a-book-club