Book Club Experience

I observed a book club for college students. Many of the book club participants met and were friends from a local church and college and made up entirely of women members (which was unfortunate) in their early 20s. DeNel Sedo who wrote “Predictions of Life After Oprah: A Glimpse at the Power of Book Club Readers,” found that many times for book club members, “education levels are the only constant similarity” outside of the shared love for reading (15). This is not true for this book club, each of the club members are close in age, religious affiliation, and have similar education levels in addition to their love of reading. While they do not all have the same job- some work in food industry, others in libraries, nonprofits, ministry, etc. Each member has a common link to each other besides their love of reading. The book the club just finished reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I had read the book alongside them and so I was excited to discuss the book with the other members. The book club met in the founder’s apartment and the atmosphere was friendly and casual. Members brought snacks and drinks for everyone to share and the group settled comfortably on couches, chairs, and pillows to begin discussing Ready Player One.

The founder, Laine*, was the one who led the discussion. Laine holds a degree in English and Library Science and works as a teen librarian near her home-so for many, Laine seemed like the logical choice to lead the discussion and select books for the monthly meeting. Laine chooses four books and allows every member to vote anonymously through Survey Monkey to have a say in what book they read. The club typically reads young adult novels, but it seems like they are not opposed to reading adult novels if the plot interests them enough.

 Laine starts the discussion by asking a general question of, “what did you think of the book? Was it engaging? Or did you find it lacking? Why?” The book club seemed to be engaged in the discussion and found the discussion intellectually stimulating. Sedo stated that many book club members who met face to face “welcome[d] the opportunity to intellectually stimulate themselves, and see club discussions as a way of exercising their cerebral selves” (Sedo, 16) and the same goes for this book club of young adults. After Laine asked the first question, the members each responded with their thoughts on the book. Sometimes a member would bring up a discussion point and the conversation would flow from there as other members discussed the different metaphors and author’s intentions behind scenes and plots. The group members discussed their favorite characters (Art3mis/Samantha), their reactions to the plot twists, and the books connections to the 1980s even though the book is set in a dystopian future. The group also discussed the similarities to a newer young adult novel, War Cross by Marie Lu in which their world is overtaken by a virtual reality and a race to win a big prize. When conversation lagged, Laine would jump in with another discussion question to move the group forward. Being a librarian, Laine seemed to have a good sense of when to ask questions and get the members to think about the book in a different light. Forrest in her article, “College Book Clubs” used her position as a librarian in the same way, “as a librarian, I was able to draw upon library resources discussed in Peril’s book and incorporate relevant materials into our discussion” (Forrest, 17).

It seemed to me that there were a few group members who dominated the discussion. They were the most confident in their opinions and always had quotes or book pages to back up their statement. Even though only a few members answered the questions in detail, many attendees did contribute with their own thoughts and opinions-just not as detailed as others did. Each attendee allowed others to speak their mind and the club operated informally with many tangents and members getting side tracked before getting back to the main discussion at hand.

The book club said that they often read young adult novels as they felt they could identify and connect better to these characters as many were in their early 20s and high school was not too far away. They said that they had read books such as Paper Towns by John Green, The Selection by Kiera Cass, This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, and other popular fiction books by young adult authors. They decided to extend their genre to Ready Player One (but the characters still revolved around high school, so they had common ground still). Most of the book club members read their books through local libraries, while others chose to purchase their books at their local bookstore or read an e-book through Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Goldstein in his article, “Reads Well with Others” discussed the powerfulness that book clubs hold in popularizing books. “Even in their most rudimentary form, reading groups can be a powerful tool, boosting a book's sales by eight or a dozen copies every time they select a title” (Goldstein, 32). As well as, “A title popular with book groups has an extended life, and sales may even increase over time” (Goldstein, 34).

The young adult book club had an engaging discussion of Cline’s novel and members stayed and visited with each other long after the discussion was over. It is clear that while members enjoy reading and discussing books with each other-they enjoy each other’s company most of all.

*Name of leader has been changed to keep the book club member’s information private and confidential.

Works Cited

Forrest, Lisa. “College Book Clubs: Collaborating for Success.” Journal of Library Information, vol. 2, issue 2, 2011, p. 16-21.

Goldstein, Bill. “Reads Well with Others.” Publishers Weekly, May 2005, p. 30-34.

Sedo, DeNel Rehberg. "Predictions of Life After Oprah: A Glimpse at the Power of Book Club Readers." Publishing Research Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 3, Fall2002, p. 11. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lls&AN=8841215&site=ehost-live.