Slightly off topic but can I ask for your views on book clubs?

[CreatedANewName]

I belong to one.
I joined for social reasons mainly (change in my circs and needed local friends.) But after 2 years I think I've had enough. And no one gets together out of the meetings anyway.

In all that time I have enjoyed about 3-4 books out of all those we read.
It's one choice per month provided by a member.

I feel really disappointed as I love reading and am not short of books I want to read. But I've become tired of reading books I'd never normally choose and am wasting precious time reading them.

Anyone empathise?

A woman’s thing not Oman..bah!

@Sadsiblingatsea

I honestly can’t imagine anything worse. There is so much literary snobbery and reading is my relaxation, I’d find it quite stressful

Not amongst my group of friends in the book club I attend

I like the idea in theory. I was on a book swap thing on here which was interesting to see the kind of books people chose etc.

But I could never join a book club because I read embarrassingly slowly. Seriously slow.

Also, I'm quite opinionated but would have to rein it in to not alienate everybody.

You see from that statement I obviously think everyone would have shit opinions.

I'd like the though.

I do like to read people's reviews on Good Reads though. Generally I can find someone who agrees with me entirely

I started one 10 years ago.
If there's a book I don't get on with I don't bother reading it, there's no pressure at all.

Everyone has very much of the mind that there are so many books to read and not enough time so it's very relaxed.

I don't socialise with any of the group but they are still special to me.

Food plays a big part in our meetings!

We”’re quite canny and choose the 99p books on kindle. A few of our groups have audible books which are cheap also.

I can't speak for all libraries but mine certainly has dozens of sets for loan free of charge. They average 15 books per set. Someone needs to register the book club and take responsibility that all copies are returned on time but it's much cheaper than buying a new book every month. Your group could take it turn to return and collect a set😀

We’ve tried the library route but had difficulty getting hold of enough copies of books we’ve chosen in enough time for everyone to read them. I get you’ve gone with what they’ve had on offer though @Winniewonka but doesn’t that restrict your choices a bit?

Mine is great. I joined to make myself read more (after years of using commuter train journeys to read I just stopped when I retired). I have read loads that I wouldn't have normally - mostly women authors but not all and everything from classics to contemporary and even if I don't finish one there's still stuff to talk about. 10 of us have kept it going over Zoom during lockdown but normally it's combined with a pub meal once month.

I belong to two. One large and very welcoming village group with about 25 members. The book forms a basis for meeting, nothing more. Some people read it, some don’t for whatever reason, some get halfway through. It’s all fine. An excuse for a few glasses of wine and gossip.

The second is smaller and more focused with an expectation of reading the book. There is wider discussion about the book and tangents off it.

Both are fun. Both provide a challenge to read books you might otherwise dismiss. Lots of socialising with people from first group, less so with second group but still the odd supper party or theatre trip.

I’ve been in two now. The first was great - four acquaintances, all different ages / lifestyles, and there were fun evenings out/meals as well as generally consistent and interesting choices in book. The second quickly turned into competitive salad-making and I suspect we’re all relieved that the pandemic intervened.

I love the idea of a book club but only if I got to pick all the books .

My mum is a book group and the stuff they read looks like right shit to me.

I think I'd resent wasting my reading time on a book I didn't want to read.

I was in a Feminist book group once which refused to read certain feminist writers because they weren't 'inclusive enough'. Seriously.

I'm in a good one now which is all virtual and has always picked good books. I like being introduced to books which I normally would not choose. It increases my experience.

I was a member of one for a couple of years. I hated it. I didn't particularly like the people, I didn't like the book choices, and I didn't like the chat. I actually took up tennis to have a good excuse to drop out - I'm really bad at tennis and had no desire to play. It was soul destroying, because I love books and love talking about books. I now get my book chat fix on the 50 books thread, which is an unfailing delight and gives me all sorts of recommendations for things I'd never have come across otherwise, and my virtual book club with my sister, where we take it in turns to read a book and have a running chat about it on WhatsApp, with a Zoom call when we've both finished. The ongoing chat around it is better and more interesting than trying to remember what it was about the book I liked at 9pm on a Tuesday in someone's living room with a bowl of Doritos in front of me that everyone else has dipped into already after 90 minutes of chat about ballet classes and how mean the year 5 teacher is being by expecting them to know how their six times tables.

I've been in different book groups, and they are as various as the women in them, and their motives for joining.
I have loved some of them, because the book suggestions are books that I would never normally have read, or persevered with. Good book groups have really opened my horizons.
On the other hand, I've left groups because the book choices are such rubbish.
I've left groups where the members just want an excuse to come out and talk about their children or grandchildren. Or people don't finish the book and say 'ooh don't tell me the end, I haven't finished it yet'. Or don't bother to read the book but still turn up.
Or have a pet hobby horse (like brexit, or the Palestine situation) and EVERY discussion comes back to it.
So a crap book group is a waste of time, but a good one is a treasure. Just keep on trying different ones, or start your own....

Not a fan myself. Either they're too intellectual or too surface level. Never been able to find one that's neither too serious nor too superficial.

I'm in two. One is great - all women with a strong literature/ writing background and we have intelligent, analytical discussions (which is what we all want, so that's fine).

The other is a local group with a very mixed group of women. We used to meet for dinner, drinks and discussion at each other's houses, but zoom has exposed the cracks and the fact that the food and drink was perhaps more important than the book!
There are 3 dubious members who whinge a lot and contribute very little to the discussion. The other 5 of us are plotting a breakaway group, but we live in a small town so they'd probably find out!

I joined a women's only book club and it's FAR better than the previous book club I attended where men ALWAYS dominated the conversation, talked over the women, thought they were judge jury and executioner on their opinion of the book and generally just pissed all the women off.

At my new book club we let each other speak

I was in one for a couple of years which was great. Some members had degrees in literature or worked in the industry, others didn’t, but everyone was enthusiastic about reading and discussing books. Not every book was my cup of tea, but I also discovered books I otherwise wouldn’t have.

When I moved away, a new colleague invited me to join her book club. More than half the members never read the books at all and there was hardly any discussion on the books. A lot of the discussions were about their DC, and I didn’t have any so was often left out. I’m sure it was a lovely social group for people who wanted wine and a natter, but it wasn’t what I was expecting from a book club.

I think they tend to vary and they are what you make of it. Me, I've never joined one because I'm shy, I'm not good at meeting new people, and it's not really my sort of thing, and they often tend to be friendship groups, but some of my aunties and uncles are in them and have had a good time. Mum was in an all-female one with a load of mates back when I was in high school (I read some of the books they covered, they had taste). I'd rather discover a book off my own bat, and it's one reason why I love libraries - if a book turns out to be shit, at least you haven't wasted your money.

I also dislike the book club questions and yes, it reminds me of English class too. One major difference between my brother and me is that he loves analysing literature and looking into themes and what the author might have meant and stuff, whereas I don't. I just want to read the book and not take it apart, Chalet School books excepted. This might explain why he did English Literature for A-Level and I did English Language; my dad was a journalist, I've always been interested in language use - and there was a great module on language and gender which I loved - and my English teacher thought it would be good for me to do as a linguist, as I was doing A-Level French and German as well.

i'm in two.

One is a women's only book club. it used to be part of a company, but we've formed a smaller boutique group of our own since. i've been a member for about 3 and a half years now., and have made some great friends though it.

the other is a online book club which is aimed at making female authors more assessable. there is a twist to it as members have to pick a choice of two books, but by reading a synopsis. then the book is wrapped and posted to them, and then we have a virtual written discussion at the end of the month.

I'm a keen reader and love talking about books, but not enthused about reading books I have to if they don't appeal to me at all. I'm just wondering if a book club works if you just bring along what you've each been reading recently and talk about that, swap books around between you? Is that just a mess or can it work if you're all clear about it? I'm moving to a new area soon and I'd love to start something like that if possible once I'm settled in.

@alloverthecarpetagain

I'm a keen reader and love talking about books, but not enthused about reading books I have to if they don't appeal to me at all. I'm just wondering if a book club works if you just bring along what you've each been reading recently and talk about that, swap books around between you? Is that just a mess or can it work if you're all clear about it? I'm moving to a new area soon and I'd love to start something like that if possible once I'm settled in.

@alloverthecarpetagain that's a great idea! 🙂

@OnwardsEverStridingOnwards thank you for the encouragement! It's the only sort of book club I can see I'd want to join really. Otherwise I can see I'd just be unable to finish the book or be so full of enthusiasm for it I'd be a pain.

[quote alloverthecarpetagain]@OnwardsEverStridingOnwards thank you for the encouragement! It's the only sort of book club I can see I'd want to join really. Otherwise I can see I'd just be unable to finish the book or be so full of enthusiasm for it I'd be a pain.[/quote]
@alloverthecarpetagain 👍🏻🙂