Book Club Observation

I attended the February meeting of the Monroe County Library’s Ellettsville Branch book club. The book club met in a meeting room at the library, where the set-up was cozy and hospitable: a circular ring of tables and chairs was set up promoting an intimate and equitable air. A table full of snacks was also provided, including chocolate, cookies, popcorn, chips, and salsa. From group members’ discussion before the club started, it sounded like some of the snacks were provided by the library and some provided by group members themselves. There was also hot water and tea bags.

The atmosphere of the discussion was friendly and lively. Members welcomed me and characterized their group to me, letting me know--after the discussion-- that “They don’t like everything they read, and their discussions aren’t always so agreeable.” There was a good degree of camaraderie present amongst members of the club who have been attending regularly, but three new members were also present at this meeting, and they were warmly welcomed. While the group was vastly made up of white women over the age of 60, this homogeneity didn’t seem to prevent any obstacle to folks who didn’t fit this profile: despite being about forty years younger than everyone else in the room, I was never condescended to and was instead treated with welcome and respect. Additionally, another new group member was a man, friends with one of the regular attendees. While he definitely got some gentle ribbing from the crowd of women, he was also encouraged to participate and return for future meetings.

            This club usually discusses current literary fiction. Books are selected by the group from a list of options presented by the facilitator. The group selects books for 6 months in advance in one decision-making process, combined with a regular meeting, in order that the upcoming book list can be published to the website and library program booklets. Most of the members had read the book upon arriving at the meeting--those who had not were all attending the club for the first time--and one member was even famous for reading all the books twice; other members deferred to her meticulous notes when there was a question of what exactly had occurred in the text, or when. Having been held monthly for a year now, the book club had definitely established some such regulars, each of whom seemed to have reputations to uphold: two attendees certainly spoke more than all of the others combined. Group members seemed habituated to this dynamic and almost seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement of allowing these two more talkative members to have all of the spotlight at first and then, once they’d aired their views significantly, stepping in and taking up some space of their own. Most attendees spoke three or four times during the course of the book club, with a few breaking in almost non-stop and others just listening. Those who just listened, again, were those who were new to the group--so it seems likely that they will participate if they continue attending the group in the future, due to the group’s friendly and welcoming culture.

            The book club was facilitated by a librarian, though she took a reserved route to facilitation. After calling the group to order and providing a brief introduction to the group’s history and methods, she mostly sat back and allowed the group to follow it’s own course of interest. The ilovelibraries web page on facilitating book group discussion provides various suggestions for how a facilitator might initiate or encourage discussion, including picking a specific character or passage to analyze in depth, or bringing in a prop or artifact related to the story and asking club members to discuss the way in which this object played into the novel (2015). While these are useful suggestions, I believe the facilitator of the Ellettsville club was wise to give this group more free rein, as they were enthusiastic and highly participatory. It was group members themselves who posed most of the questions that the club considered, with the facilitator pitching in her thoughts, guiding questions, or opinions every so often. With thirteen people in attendance at the bookclub, this method sometimes became rather clamorous, as side discussions broke off simultaneous to the group conversation. The librarian did have a book guide to the book being discussed--The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry--and consulted this when asked to do so by the group, typically for insight into some of the book’s symbolism and literary allusions. When the leader did raise points or pose questions, she always allowed group members to respond first. She would, however, chime in when group members raised a query but, again, after waiting for group members time to answer first.