In praise of book groups, by Dale Spindel

Back in the summer of 2002, one of my regular library patrons requested that the library start a book discussion group.   A few weeks later, there were four of us who met in the  activity room to discuss Tell Me a Riddle, by Tillie Olsen.  Six weeks later, more than 20 people showed up to discuss Tulip Fever, by Deborah Moggach, and our book group was  up and running. 

Being the leader of the library's book group has never been  a part of my formal job description and I sometimes have trouble justifying to myself the large amount of time that I devote to an endeavor that serves only a relatively small number of  patrons.  I have tried motivating group members to take turns leading the sessions by establishing the rule that the leader gets to pick the book being discussed, but people have taken me up on this only eleven times during these past eight years.  Aside from reading the book (on my own time, of course) I spend at least an additional hour or two  of prep time on the day of the discussion.  

        By consensus, our group focuses  predominantly on fiction with our discussion of Into the Wild, by Jon Krakaur, standing out as an especially notable exception.  Although our primary focus is contemporary fiction, I will sometimes select books that fall into a  category I have established as "books you probably read in school but were too young and lacking in life experience to fully understand."  This has allowed   us to  take a collective stab at such titles as  The Good Earth, The Great Gatsby, Mrs. Dalloway, and The Sun Also Rises.  And yes, it is a very different experience reading these books again after the passage of thirty or more years.

   So why exactly is it that I love the book group?   Well, for starters, the responsibility of coming up with questions for each session  has, over these past eight years,  made me a much better reader.   I  now pay close attention to examples of beautiful writing that I can share with the group;  the members know that I will  wax especially rhapsodic over a beautifuly composed metaphor or a poetically constructed phrase.    I also pay attention to  story line and character development in ways that I never did when I was reading only for myself and this heightened  appreciation of a writer's skill  now  carries over into everything that I read or listen to on audio.  And if I've really loved a book that I've read on my own,  I will willingly read it a second time so that I can have the pleasure of sharing and discussing it with the group. 

    Because other people have occasionally stepped up to lead , I've gotten to read books I probably never would have otherwise, including Unless and Larry's Party, by Carol Shields, Zorba the Greek, by Nikos Kazantzakis, and  the aforementioned Into the Wild.   On lucky occasions, we've even had authors join us at the table when we've discussed their books; this is how I've gotten to meet Jeffrey Cohen, Shobhan Bantwal, Tom Collichio, and (I still can't believe it actually happened) Jonathan Safran Foer.

    But when asked, I will always say that my favorite thing about the book group is the friendships that it has engendered.   In addition to the core group of  ten who have consistently attended the group  over the past eight years, there have been at least another 25 or 30 people who have been a part of the group at one time or another.  We have gone out to dinner together and organized and enjoyed raucous  holiday parties.  This past June, I was comforted by the presence of  members of the book group who sat together at my mother's funeral, listening as I spoke about the love that she and I had shared for music and books.

    What has always fascinated me about the book group has been its randomness. Our regulars come from six neighboring municipalities but over the years we've had participants from no fewer than ten different communities, all of us drawn together only by  our love of books and  by our desire to amplify our reading experiences by sharing them with others.   The majority of people who come to the group originally did so without knowing any of the other participants; over time I  have had the pleasure of watching many real friendships develop between the various members.  So it was with a real sense of loss and sadness that I learned, only a few days ago, of the sudden and unexpected death of one of our group members, someone who had been with the group since that second meeting.  

It is no small thing that, over the course of eight years, I have shared nearly 70 books with Marian.  Dealing with this type of loss is definitely not something that they teach us how to deal with in library school. 

I had been planning for some time to have this week's blog be about the book group so the fact that I am dealing, for the first time, with the death of a member makes this especially poignant and eerily ironic.

 

Comments

[Kathleen Czarnecki]

Dale,

I have a knot in my throat and tears in my eyes as I read this. Book groups are so much more than people chatting about the latest best seller. Being a member of a book group gives one the opportunity to meet people we otherwise would not have socialized with. Just like getting to know and appreciate a new author, we get a chance to meet, bond with and appreciate new people. Books really are powerful tools. Dale, thanks for all your hard work to keep the book group together.....Goodbye Marian, we will never forget you.

[Barbara W.]

As a founding member of the Book Group, I want to validate everything you've written about it. The members and especially you, have been, and continue to be, an important and positive part of my life. To have something so intellectually stimulating and emotionally satisfying close to where I live is a beautiful thing! We are all aware of the effort you make to lead the group and are sincerely appreciative. Surely spotlighting books and discussing them is of benefit to the literary world in general and to readers in particular and I am looking forward to many more discussions!
PS You forgot to mention the great refreshments that are served at every meeting! Food for the body as well as the soul...

[Shakespeare]

I am so sorry one of your members is gone.

I have a book group I've been in for nearly four years now, and I've hired a babysitter several times when my husband is out of town, just to make sure I get to go. I see most of the other readers only at the monthly meetings, yet when we get together we act like old friends.

I hope to keep going for many years to come.

[Robin Agnew]

I am dreading this happening in my own book group. Many of us have become friends, and I love the variety of ages and life experiences we have between us. One of the members has grown up, attending with her mother (who still attends), gone to college and gotten married since we started meeting. It's a wonderful connection. I'm so sorry for your loss, I'm sure your group will have to re-adjust itself.

[SAT Study Guide]

I am thinking how nice is group and maybe I should join. Is your book group okay? I just want to let you know I am interested. Thanks in advance.

"The SAT Reasoning Test offered by the College Board is used as a standardized college admissions test in the United States. Students typically take the SAT at the finale of their High School careers, as most major universities use the SAT as placement criteria."