The Next Best Book Club discussion
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Face 2 Face Book Clubs
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As for TNBBC, and Goodreads in general, I agree that the 24/7 availability and the fact that you can talk to people world wide is amazing. It keeps me coming back for more.

I checked out the site you suggested, there were many meetup groups in Rome, but all for political activism or pregnant, nursing or new mothers - I'm past that scene, fortunately, but I wish I'd known about them when my son was little!

As for membership, not very many "housewives" ever attended, they were usually too busy carting the kids to hockey practice or helping with homework, etc. It was mostly singles, newlyweds, or women with grownup children. Only once I felt condescended to because someone believed I wouldn't understand what it is like to be married and therefore, wouldn't get anything out of the book that had been chosen. I told her that I'd treat the book as a "don't let this happen to you" and she never brought it up again.
Besides that, I never regretted joining in and participating and sometimes miss it. TNBBC is doing a good job of filling in that void.









Robin,
I live in Arlington and will have to check out the ones that you posted from Meetup.com. Thanks!

One starts at 6:30 p.m. - which is gossip time. Book discussion starts at 7, and our moderator keeps us on topic. I always find the discussions interesting. We meet one a month.
The other group either meets Sundays or on a weeknight evening. Unfortunately, the hostess is not always able to keep us on topic. However, I have discovered quite a few interesting books through the group.
I'd love to join a group that has a wider range of interests, but the thought of 'having' to read 3 books a month - plus all the books on my 'to read' list - has kept me from trying to find another group. (which makes me wish that Robin hadn't posted her links to Northern Virginia book clubs....)


Glad to hear it Jenna - I LOVE all my face2face groups (just like I love my TNBBC folks) I find they come from all different ages, professsions, sexes, sexual orientations, religions, nationalities. I've yet to have a "bad" experience. - I live in the Washington DC area and we tend to be pretty diverse anyway but the intelligence and thoughtfullness that I've found in my face2face groups have been fantastic.

We started with just four of us but there's now about 8 and we're all in our late 20's to mid 30's. We talk about the book for a little bit and then have a good gossip! Just a good way to socialise really.

We have read some great books in the last 3 years and some duds, but our friendships have grown and we lost a few that didn't feel they fit in unfortunately. If has been a pleasantly positive experience for me and my mother-in-law and our other older lady can give us a different view point on a historical piece.


Heh, when I first heard that the library held once-a-month bookclubs here, that was the first image that popped up in my head (sadly, I know.). However, then I decided that I didn't care. It didn't matter whether the members were 10-30 years older than me or if the book selection wasn't really my taste. I love books and I would love to just well...meet someone who also has such a fondness of books that they would join a face2face bookclub :)
I still haven't met the group (it only recently started) and I haven't seen the full booklist. However, the first book that we got to read proved to be an excellent novel that touched me a great deal but also a book that I wouldn't read unless I was really told to. I'm excited!!! :)

I've found that most people who care enough about books to set aside a night to talk about them, also care about the quality of what they read. And are very thoughtful about it to.
Celeste, I love that you belong to a group with your MIL. Reading about it makes me miss my MIL, who passed away this summer.



False open mindedness is pretty bad in my book, falseness of any kind really, but I think not being up to the challenge of defending your position is a bigger crime.
I mean, I can understand if you're a junior in high school and can't quite come to grips with why a book speaks to you. But if you make the effort to be in a book club...
I had a teacher at school who used to make us debate difficult topics (apartheid, death penalty, evolution). The trick was, we had to argue for the side we didn't agree with. Kinda gets your head in gear. I wonder if the exercise made me even more opinionated than I naturally am...



I was thinking of starting book clubs but more like several book club as projects at retirement homes. I've done some volunteering at a couple and noticed how many of the residents are lonely and restless and appreciate having someone to talk to and I was thinking well - why not make book clubs? Many people enjoy reading and if their sight isn't well, there is lots of audio books as well nowadays. It could help bring in more social activity and I think that is especially important for those who suffer from some form of dementia. I can also imagine the interesting discussions that could appear! I mean, imagine reading a book about the 40s and having someone who remember those times!
The only problem is - how do you start such a project? How do you get funding (books and etc)? The planning and of course, one need more volunteers to help 'starting' the clubs.

The libraries in my county have "book kits" for book clubs that contain a large number of the same book, as well as questions for discussion, etc. Some of the books that we read during the year are from a kit and some are not. If you plan your reading list for the whole year, it gives people the opportunity to try and get it from the library (as some books have waiting lists). I would recommend going into the library and talking with a librarian about your options. They will probably have some great ideas. There are also websites that give ideas for starting up book clubs. Good luck!


Glad you enjoyed your first book club meeting - they will continue to get less awkward each time. The challenge is to keep it fun and enlightening until things get established! My group (we've been going since 2001) had the hardest time figuring out what to read - believe it or not! For the past 5 years or so, at the start of our 'year', each member announces their choice for the following year. We keep our choices secret until that meeting. It's pretty exciting when we all unveil our choices - it's like opening presents! We get a great mix of books this way.

All these ideas are just great. Leila, I hope you can get your idea off the ground.
I've always known that Americans read a lot and that Italians don't (just go to the beach in the summer - there's a category of book called "beach reads" or "light summer stuff", or look on the internet - there are thousands of book clubs), but it's just now beginning to get to me. I guess I'm getting out of the self-sufficient phase of my life and moving into the social, or something.
Books mentioned in this topic
Revolutionary Road (other topics)Avempartha (other topics)
http://bookclub.meetup.com/264/
http://www.meetup.com/fairfaxfictionb...
http://bookclub.meetup.com/1066/
http://bookclub.meetup.com/851/
http://bookclub.meetup.com/1134/
Meetup's happen in virtually every town, and book meetups are one of the most plentiful... I highly recommend.
-- Wife of GR author Michael J. Sullivan: The Crown Conspiracy (10/08) | Avempartha (04/09)