21st Century Literature discussion
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What Are Your Preferences For Book Discussions? (12/4/22)
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My preferences, based on my IRL group that’s met for the past 20 plus years:In person, (although I’ve had to move to zoom in the past few years ) no more than a dozen people, a mix of friends and strangers, discuss when everyone has finished reading, use prompts/questions, moderated, books selected by participants, shorter books mean that more folks will show up for the discussion, single volumes, a mix of fiction and non-fiction, genre is ok, 2 hour discussions work well.
As someone who came into book discussions through Great Books Foundation, I really do think their “shared inquiry “ approach makes for a good discussion. Basically, it’s the idea of a hive mind, there is no right or wrong answer, we explore the book as a group and base what we say on the text in front of us, not on background reading (although we do bring in background material in the last leg of the discussion if that’s what the group wants to do). We work with questions but do find that they can jump into free-flowing explorations, which is fine as long as we stay on topic. ( In other words we actually talk about the book :)
A lot of the success of discussions depends on group dynamics. People are encouraged both to contribute and to listen to others and respond to other’s thoughts. Has everyone had a chance to contribute? Are their contributions treated with respect? Are chatty folks reined in so they don’t dominate the conversation? Are folks responding to the conversation or are they wandering off topic or going on solo riffs? A good discussion means that after 2 hours people should feel invigorated, like they want to continue the conversation, rather than otherwise.
Mod
I'm always impressed by how on-topic the discussions remain on GR (at least, within the few groups where I'm active).
My preferences:
At least for now, I prefer virtual discussions (although I've only tried 1 or 2 in-person ones and I don't think they were a good fit), smaller groups (with a mix of people I know and don't know), books picked by the participants, moderated (but I could go either way on questions/prompts being used), single volumes, 2 to 3 weeks in duration, discussing after everyone has finished reading (unless it's a collection of short stories or a really long book). I like when book discussions are also connected to people's personal lives but I think this is harder to do on public forums, especially with strangers as trust/privacy issues factor in. But we don't read in a vacuum. A book speaks to us where we are now as individuals (grieving, celebrating, depressed, joyous, retiring, facing health issues, starting a new job, pressed for time, on vacation, etc.).
Mod
In-person has the best food, drink, and social aspects, natch. But, leaving those aside, there’s something to be said for both. I like the immediate give-and-take of in-person, but virtual (assuming not real-time) allows more time to consider things people have said, as well as one’s response. I think Janet’s assessment of good in-person discussions is spot-on. I also agree with Janet that less than a dozen people is optimal. Too many people and it’s frequently just everyone stating their opinion rather than engaging in a discussion. Mix of strangers and familiars.
I’m a “when everyone is done reading” person (exceptions for the chunksters). I prefer analysis rather than real-time reactions. It’s also easier when you don’t have a daily schedule but can read in your own time. I love a good, free-flowing discussion. Prompts to help get things started, or when the discussion starts to flag. Discussions are better with moderators, but it’s certainly an art and one I’m a long way from mastering. A good moderator encourages people’s ideas and can jump-start a waning discussion, as well as ask good, leading questions. Providing background is also a valuable moderator role.
Short books seem to lead to more participation and fewer drop-outs. I did enjoy the group Brain Pain which had people committed to longer, more difficult books, but I think it has to be a special commitment, and not just the choice of the month. I’ve never done an official ‘series’ read. I did enjoy that people continued to discuss the sequels to “The Three Body Problem”. Novels or single-subject non-fiction seem to work best for discussion.
Another agreement with 2 hours for in-person, 2 to 3 weeks for virtual with exceptions for longer books.
Marc wrote: I'm always impressed by how on-topic the discussions remain on GR (at least, within the few groups where I'm active).
My preferences..."
Marc, I may try a few online discussions on GR this year. I've never done it because the times generally seem to conflict with other obligations and reading commitments. That said, in scanning through the ones that have piqued my interest, they do look interesting.
I, too, have attended IRL discussions that were just not for me. Sometimes, it's all about the chemistry :)
I have not really participated in IRL bookclubs. Those friends I have in clubs don't seem to be looking for new members. At a Christmas party in 2019 friends talked about starting one after the holidays, but then Covid.I belong to one virtual book club not on GR that I love. It's been going for 15 or so years. We usually discuss books for a couple of weeks. People post links to reviews, maps, wikepedia pages which is something you can't really do IRL. Everyone is anonymous, so they can say what they like. We only meet every other month and occasionally either do a book pairing (for example Camus' The Stranger along with Daoud's The Meursault Investigation or read something quite long.)
Our organizer usually posts discussion questions, but we aren't religious about answering them. We choose books through consensus. Everyone suggests books, we then list our favorites, sometimes we do a couple of rounds and then the organizer will pick one of them. If it's close, we'll consider reading the book later.
We mostly read fiction, but have sampled many genres. While we are strangers there is a core group that has been posting for years.
When the pandemic hit, I worked to reboot a book club from high school (I wont say how long ago, its pre-internet) with friends now spread over 6 time zones and it has been truly fabulous, as much for the restoration of those connections as the fun with books. We have been meeting on zoom, mostly fiction, some non-fiction, consensus decisions by whoever is on the call. 6 or so is the best size for this so the boxes aren't too small, and I think the etiquette keeps chatty people giving turns, but I tend to "moderate" if needed to move the ball around. We have 15 people on the email list and often socialize for the first 30 minutes so people who haven't read the book can come and say hi and then drop off - better than the tendency of such folks to turn an in person gathering into a dinner club rather than a book club. Despite my sporadic participation here, I have liked the discussions when I read the book. I usually wait until the spoiler chain is up and I have finished the book for the same reasons everyone has mentioned preferring discussions of finished products, I am unlikely to analyze until I'm done. On the other hand I'm no longer as good as I was at marking passages to go back to so maybe if I was accumulating impressions as I went I would have more to say, lol.
One of the things I both like and dislike about my in person book group is when we don't talk about the book exclusively.Sometimes that's annoying when I want to focus on the book, but often I love it because we explore topics that are adjacent to the book, and the book facilitates that discussion.
I don't see that in virtual discussions often since we tend to focus just on the book. It might be doable, but it might also be challenging since we don't actually know each other so we have different levels of comfort and trust when it comes to talking about tricky topics.
A nice thing about online book discussions - they are still posted years later and you can read them and follow along like they are happening today.
21st Century Literature
Books mentioned in this topic
The Stranger (other topics)The Meursault Investigation (other topics)
- In-person vs virtual
- Large groups vs small
- Strangers vs friends/familiars
- Read along and discuss vs discuss once everyone is done reading
- Free-flowing discussion vs prompts/questions
- Moderated vs unmoderated
- Books selected for participants vs books participants suggest
- Long books vs short books
- Series vs single volumes
- Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Genre, etc.
- Duration of discussion
- Any other preference you can think of