Book Club Fun

My library has a book club called “Books on Tap”.  It takes place on a Tuesday night, which is the one night I’ve worked for years, so I’ve never been able to go.  I got the night off to go for this piece and I had a great time!  We met at Wings Etc. and ordered drinks.  The library paid for appetizers, which was a real treat.  There were about 10 people there, some ladies in their 40s and 50s and retirees.   We chatted while waiting to begin, and I felt very comfortable.  The leader of the talk was an older woman who has been at the library 30+ years, a very friendly and knowledgeable lady. 

This book club is slightly different in that they don’t discuss a book every month, they discuss a genre.  My understanding is that they had difficulties choosing one book that everyone wanted to read, so they settled on genre and each person would read a book and then share it with the group.  In one sense, I feel this hinders really digging into a title and finding the insight that discussion can lead to.  On the other hand, hearing about several different books sounds interesting and everyone’s looking for a new book to discover!  The genre this month was romance.  I brought along an old favorite of mine, Trade Winds, by M.M. Kaye. 

The meeting proceeded as you would imagine.  Each person would introduce themselves, tell us what book they brought and then launch into description of the book.  Everyone listened politely and interestedly, and then asked questions about the plot and characters and a short discussion ensued depending on where the comments led.  The leader didn’t have a script or schedule of questions that needed to be answered; each presentation proceeded organically.  It was interesting in that the other participants usually jumped in with questions and comments; the leader really didn’t need to lead anything.  It was a really talkative and curious group.  Another thing that struck me as cool was that most of the members had their synopsis of their books written down so that they remembered the most important parts of the book AND the small details that fleshed the book out for the rest of the group.  I was engaged in each presentation even if the book didn’t initially sound that interesting. 

Each person had the floor for about 10-15 minutes.  Everyone seemed comfortable and enthusiastic.  There were obviously some folks that had more questions than others, but there was no one who hogged the spotlight or made an ass of themselves, thank goodness.  I came away with a greater interest in a genre I’m not super fond of, and I made a few friends.  Next month, the genre is historical fiction, which sounds like a good one. 

In the end, I had a great time and am even considering changing my work schedule to attend again!  It was an interesting twist on your normal book club discussion which has its pros and cons.  I would suspect that hardcore, traditional book club enthusiasts would find the format somewhat off-putting, but there is no formula for what a book club is supposed to do, and it made me want to attend again, so that’s a good thing!