Book Club Experience

The book club that I observed was hosted by a friend of mine, and the members were friends of hers and mutual friends of ours. I’ve gone to the club occasionally, but usually don’t find the time. It’s not a very scheduled thing, but they do try to meet at least once a month. There’s a group chat that explodes when one member or another reads something they think is great and wants to share with everyone else. I got lucky in that my friend found a book that the rest of the club was interested in, and we met. The book discussed was Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce.

My friend was the leader for this meeting. Usually, whoever recommends the book is the one who leads. They usually open with how people liked the book, just to get a general sense of how people feel. The meetings usually take place at someone’s house, but occasionally we like to go out to eat and have a very informal discussion. The general atmosphere is easy and informal. It’s just a bunch of friends, eating and drinking and talking books.

The questions asked are pretty open ended. ‘How did you like it?’ ‘What did you think about this scene?’ There were a few yes or no questions that could be expanded on, such as one that the leader asked: ‘Do you feel that the Trickster is being truthful with Aly with his ambitions?’. This question took up a good portion of the conversation, and led to other members asking related questions.

Anyone who attends is assumed to have read the book. There were a few that just listened to the conversation, chiming in with a ‘yes/no’ type comment here and there, but were generally pleased to just listen along.

There wasn’t anyone who really tried to steal the spotlight. There was a question posed over the possible colonialization-narrative, and this sparked off a very heated, but very detailed and informative, debate. However, no one was overtly offensive, and no one took great offense to opinions stated. This probably has to do with everyone being friends and used to talking to each other like this.

There isn’t a set genre or style of books that this book club likes to read. All genres are pretty well covered because all of the members like different types of books. In this instance, the book was overall a hit with the members.