Book Clubs: Part 1

So, you want to start a book club and you haven’t a clue how to set about getting one up and running: Well, look no further, help is at hand from the Queen of Book Club Land.

There are clubs within clubs (golf clubs, yacht clubs), there are all male, and all female, and better still, mixed clubs, husbands and wives (that doesn’t translate easily into Partners & Partners but you know what I mean) who get together to socialise and discuss, work mates, book shop clubs, library sponsored clubs, friends from way back who went to school together clubs. There are neighbourhood clubs, long distance clubs - Skype means you can attend from anywhere in the world - and television and radio clubs. I’m sure there are clubs for retired zoo keepers, for call girls when they are not on call, for disillusioned dentists and resting actors – any possible mix of people who want to share their love of books can get together and create their own unique club.

If you are setting up your own book club then you get to decide who is going to be in your gang, and whether it will be a set number or expand and contract as time goes on. But do remember that your club will probably take on a life of its own and you may not be in charge for long!

It’s impossible to kick someone, who proves to be impossibly irritating, out of your club especially if they are neighbours and/or friends so think hard before you issue that invitation. Many a club has gone to the wall because of one person who thinks that their opinions are the only ones that matter; there are others who interrupt, violently disagree, talk about their children at the drop of a hat, relate every incident in a book to some event in their own lives which they then proceed to tell you about at great length. But, of course, you may only find out these grating habits when they have chosen their favourite easy chair in your front room from which there’s no dislodging this comfortable cuckoo.

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver proved such a contentious book that members of one club nearly came to blows. There was a healthy mix of those who loved it, those who hated it, and those who said they wouldn’t dream of reading such a ghastly novel. "But how", some said, "can you make assertions about a book you haven’t even read?" Everyone enjoyed the heated discussion, well those who’d bothered to read the chosen title did, but two grim faced ladies sat on the sidelines, lips pursed, nothing to add to the evening except their contempt for something about which they had only assumptions. Seemingly, they never returned!

~Posted by Mary