How does your book club work?

[MordechaiVanunu]

Ours is very informal.

Whoever is hosting next chooses the next book. Whatever they like.

We are all friends outside book club and all have children in the same school, so I find we spend most of the time gossiping and chatting and very little time talking about the book.

Our discussions mostly just involve did you like it? Why? Why not? who was nice who was horrible etc.

we are very low brow.

I have a good time but I sense a reluctance to really analyse a book and a kind of embarrassment or shying away from any perceived 'intellectual' discussion.

I'd like a bit more of this as well as the gossip.

any tips for this, or similiar experiences?

Ours is similar to yours, we're all mums to young children so a large appeal of the group is to have a chance to chat without being interrupted all the time, and have a glass of wine with friends. Also we pick books in the same way as you.

I think the choice of book really affects the amount of book discussion. Perhaps you could have a list of books to choose from i.e. those with obvious discussion themes or that are likely to be love/hate from rather than just picking random books. Also if you google a lot of books have discussion points/questions for book groups, these can be good for keeping us on topic.

We need to talk about Kevin was probably the most discussion-provoking book for our group if you've not done that one yet?

Your book club sounds like mine too.
We've been meeting for about 15 years now with children all around the same age, and going through similar stages

We do try to discuss the book for about an hour, and usually the 'choser' gets some questions off the internet, but usually it quickly turns into catch up on news or a quick round up who we liked and didn't like in the novel.

As we've been meeting for so long it can get a bit difficult chosing a book as we've done loads now, but there again we all struggle to recall what we've read from one month to the next

You need a handout with some decent questions on it. Sparknotes is good, or just google the title plus something like "discussion questions" or "reading guide". Then you need someone who is prepared to say "anyway, back to the book" at regular intervals. Otherwise it is just the same as any other mum-chat and you might as well not bother with a book group. IME!

Also a member with an Eng Lit degree is a help!

We are more varied in age than your lot,I have the youngest child (3) although I am not the youngest member (she is 36 I think)The older members are in their 60s and I think that they contribute something very different and interesting to the chats about the books.Certainly it would be very different if we were all at similar stages/ages. We choose the book between us,from suggestions,and then we rotate who hosts it,and we rate the book out of ten.We initially go round the group for a single sentence summing up,and then round again to talk in more depth.We also have cake..