Booking Through Thursday

Clubbing

A combo of two suggestions by: Heidi and by litlove

Have you ever been a member of a book club? How did your group choose (ot, if you haven’t been, what do you think is the best way to choose) the next book and who would lead discussion?

Do you feel more or less likely to appreciate books if you are obliged to read them for book groups rather than choosing them of your own free will? Does knowing they are going to be read as part of a group affect the reading experience?

Curious. This is actually something I have been thinking about recently. I have never been a member of a book club. It's not that I'm adverse to them by any means, I just genuinely, honestly do not have the time. I have a very strange job, which leads me away from home sometimes up to 10 weeks at a time, so it is impossible for me to be part of any regular group meetings or sports clubs. I love books, I love reading them, discussing them, sharing them, buying them...heck just sitting there and looking at them! But when I go away, I have only a finite number of books that I can carry, and often with the people I work with, noone to talk about them with. So, I was intrigued by my best friend's blog, and decided that this would probably be the best way for me to meet people who actually enjoy talking about books as much as I do, share recommendations and just generally drool over them! I must admit, I didn't expect to enjoy the blog world this much. In a way, the internet has become my substitute for a real world book life...how ironic.

Having said all that, if and when I get a normal job, I don't know if I will jump into the book club world. I have so many books on my own shelves and on my TBR list, that I would be quite content for several years! Having joined this site, that number has gone up drastically..thanks everyone! So in terms of finding things to read and having people to talk about books with, I don't "need" a book club. But I guess that isn't the point. My aunt is an avid book club goer (her quartely lists make christmas presents real easy I tell you!) and part of the draw for her is learning to read outside your safety zone. Having other people recommend things that you would never have picked up, if you found the book in the first place! Admittedly they do read bestsellers sometimes, and award winners, but often these are in genres my aunt would not normally touch, such as Maus by Art Spiegelman. In her group, members nominate a certain number of books per year, some of which end up in the final list, the rest pushed to next year, or discarded. I even persuaded her to nominate Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi as a slightly more unusual book idea. The idea of having some of my reading selected for me doesn't really appeal, but who is to say I wouldn't love the books chosen, that I wouldn't discover a passion for a new author, or a new genre? Another big draw is having so many people reading the book at the same time, you can really get a rounded interpretation of the book and its impact on the reader. And of course this all comes with tea and cake...

I guess you never know unless you give it a try!