Book clubs

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I think I might want to look for a book club to join once we move. Have you ever been in a book club? How do you go about finding one with people who want to read similar things that you do and are reasonably intelligent? Is it fun or a waste of time? Do you have any tips for a potential book club joiner?

― NA (Nick A.), Friday, 10 October 2003 12:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I joined one in Leicester once. It was three quarters women over fifty, and the standard of discussion was pretty patchy - some extremely intelligent people, some just there for social reasons. I went along for a term or two (it was run at a local college) until I started at university. I'd say ask what the make-up of the group is like and what the last few things they read were, and if they sound possibly okay, give them a try - you don't have to commit for a long time.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 10 October 2003 16:21 (twenty-one years ago)

my mum is in one and they come around to our place, which is a total dud because if there is any signs of non familial life, mum goes totally mental.. but it does get you reading which is a classic if you tend to not do it without some type of motivation.. unfortunately you don't get to choose which book- so you end up reading Angela's Ashes 14- The revenge (electric boogaloo etc etc).

― minna (minna), Saturday, 11 October 2003 12:42 (twenty-one years ago)

oops, that was mine.

― nellskies (minna), Saturday, 11 October 2003 12:42 (twenty-one years ago)

A book club can be wonderful for those times when you have only one book you wish to destroy. For large numbers of books, a book bonfire is more efficient.

― Aimless, Saturday, 11 October 2003 14:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I tried to make one with some people on my LJ friends list but we picked Mrs. Dalloway and then all hated it, so most of us never finished it, much less discussed it. That was the end of that.

― Maria (Maria), Sunday, 12 October 2003 02:13 (twenty-one years ago)

That's kind of what I'm afraid of...I don't need motivation to read, i do plenty of reading under my own motivation, but I was thinking of it as more of a social opportunity to meet new people once we move and to actually be able to discuss what I'm reading, as I can't really work things out in my head by myself very well. But I don't want an Oprah-style book club of weepy melodrama and stoicisms.

― NA (Nick A.), Sunday, 12 October 2003 22:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm thinking of joining one since I'm a robot who is unable to meet people through normal avenues.

― Sean (Sean), Monday, 13 October 2003 01:11 (twenty-one years ago)

four weeks pass...

books that i would like to read with ilxors:

Pierre Bourdieu - Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste
Jacques Derrida - Of Grammatology
Gary Marcus - The Algebraic Mind: Integrating Connectionism and Cognitive Science

― youn, Monday, 10 November 2003 16:06 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe i will have to settle for robots.

― youn, Monday, 10 November 2003 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I can see you a Moominpappa's Memoirs and raise you a Goethe?

― Sarah (starry), Monday, 10 November 2003 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

hey sarah! does that mean yes?!?!

― youn, Monday, 10 November 2003 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Comet in Moominland was the book of my childhood.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 10 November 2003 17:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Um, okay! We could both go into a chatroom and read a book in front of the computer screen or something! Or you know, talk about them on the interweb or something. I'm not sure how much sense you'd get out of me though, I'm not really in the habit of using my brain any more - though perhaps you could remind me!

I wish to visit MoominLand.

― Sarah (starry), Monday, 10 November 2003 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Thingumy & Bob were my favourite Moomin characters. Have you read Tove Jansson Summer Book (just reissued by Sort of Books)? Great stuff!

Incidentally, I run a book club in London if you're interested. We're all 20's / 30's agewise and there's about 8 of us. We're doing the Wasp Factory (Iain Banks) next.

I will post nearer the time as a couple of others were interested.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 10 November 2003 17:13 (twenty-one years ago)

three years pass...

just joined a book club and we spent only about 20 mins discussing the book (cos nobody but me and someone else had read it all) and the other hour or two talking about other things. is this normal? maybe its just cos i like 'studying' now (or at least having an incentive to read more) but i found it a bit dissapointing.

― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Thursday, 11 January 2007 15:33 (eighteen years ago)

i have been in 2 and we discussed the book - discussing social things is understandable but not reading the book is awful!

the one i was in a few years ago was good, we picked interesting books and even when i didn't like them the other people had such interesting things to say that i came to appreciate them. the one i joined this month is not so good, i went to one meeting and realized that not only did i have very little of interest to say about the bestseller we read, nobody else did either. so i am not going back to read the next bestseller because i have books i actually want to read. (not that i hate anything popular, the book i am reading now is popular, but it's fun and i wouldn't try to draw insight out of it for two hours.)

― Maria (Maria), Thursday, 11 January 2007 15:53 (eighteen years ago)

seventeen years pass...

Have signed up for a new work zoom Book Club, my first. There are 15 of us so far, skewing heavily towards young women. We have each been allowed to nominate a book, to be chosen at random (although I suspect the organiser may discretely bin the history of British Rail one of the blokes nominated). I didn't want to play the snooty literary know-it-all so I picked PriestDaddy by Patricia Lockwood, partly because I haven't got round to reading it yet, partly because I thought it's possible others might actually enjoy it. A lot of the selections sound terrible/not to my taste but I am determined to least give every nominated book a go. The one that gives me the most fear is a satirical novel about cancel culture by Lionel Shriver.

― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 6 November 2024 16:08 (seven months ago)

Ugh at this last. A good book club can be great though. I have had several very positive experiences over the years.

― Sir Lester Leaps In (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 6 November 2024 20:35 (seven months ago)

I’m having a bad year in general but one of the good things is that I’ve found a decent book club! Interesting picks (a lot of contemporary lit I would prob never pick up otherwise), good ppl, meeting at a different pub each month. I had the worst hangover today along with general despondency about the state of things, wasn’t sure i would go but glad I did. I learned about Gary Barlow’s large son which I somehow missed

― Heartbreaking: the worst novel you’ve finished has a staggering genius (wins), Wednesday, 6 November 2024 23:06 (seven months ago)

Not responding to anything specific here, but this seems like a really good time to start a book club, even just a small one.

― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 8 November 2024 13:34 (seven months ago)

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/30/books/remarkably-bright-creatures-shelby-van-pelt.html

This is the book that was chosen (at random) for our first book club. If one of the purposes of a book club is to get you reading outside yr normal comfort zone - mission accomplished!

― Ward Fowler, Monday, 18 November 2024 13:14 (seven months ago)

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Book clubs - c/d