Book Fellas (Open-to-all Reading Club)

[angelfyre]

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count me in! i have plenty of books...

[gareb]

hmm... i am not *exactly* into christian books, and i have taken a leave in reading fiction. my books are now largely about politics. if that is deemed acceptable, then i may join.

[ysilona]

just wondering.. nagsugod namo sa inyong book club?

wud have bn interstd to join

[boliklik]

hay ambot ysilona, nawala na mga pipol nag post ani

[cutieara]

can i join too?unsaon man pag apil anang book club...im interested to join...tinood enriching jud mo join ani nga mga klase nga group...i myself is a book lover...

[simoen]

@boliklik, josephdc, others : u might wanna join pinoybookclub.com.

[orangepink]

Hi! We, at PinoyBookClub.com, are looking for Filipino authors or poets, literary engineers to feature in our 'In The Spotlight' section. So far, we've featured Pol Medina Jr and Jessica Hagedorn. So, if you're interested, just send me a PM. thanks!

[josephdc]

Hello!

About three years ago I started a topic about forming book clubs in this forum... I never got the chance of following up on the idea because I got very, very busy with some things.... Sorry kaayo ha sa mga taw nga nag-express sa ilang willingness to join/ start one...

Anyway, I just remembered this idea when I read an article in the PCIJ about how we are not a country of readers. It's so bad, isn't it? Most of us can read and write, yet very few of us are into the habit of reading.

I admit that I myself am not a wide reader; I read on occasions only. But I want to acquire the habit of reading. Nindut man pud na'ng cultured ta hehehe

So anyone ganahan magstart og book club dire? Pero dili lang ako ang facilitator ha kay dili ko up to the task hehehe... Or pwede pud we will have a different facilitator na lang every meeting. We can read one book a month (therefore we meet once a month), or if makaya two books a month (therefore we meet twice a month). So, first, we agree on what book/ genre to read a few weeks ahead of each meeting. Or we vote what books to read on a given month, etc. There are many ways of fixing the rules/ methods by which the club can operate. (See the guide below).

About membership, siguro okay na if 6 to 8 lang para dili kaayo gubot hehe. Siguro mga two hours each meeting is enough. Also, dili necessary nga mga writers ang muapil ha, or those mga academic type or those English majors, kay it will be very intimidating.... Our purpose is to have fun lang reading and learning. It doesn't have to feel like book reporting. So in my opinion it would be nicer if it's just an informal book club where everybody have fun reading and learning...

[josephdc]

Tips for Setting Up and Running a Book Club
http://www.book-club.co.nz/bookclubs/tips.htm

1. Finding People

Bookclubs generally need between about 5- 15 people to be successful. More often they start from a core group of 3-4 friends or acquaintances, who ask around and find some others - friends of friends, workmates, friends of workmates etc. Even with a small starting group more people will pop up from unexpected places once you get going and tell other people. If you really need others outside of your wider circle of friends and acquaintances, you could ask at your local library or bookstore, put notices up on local community noticeboards or put notices in local publications ie community newsletters, school, clubs, church or work notices etc….This website has a free noticeboard that you can advertise for either new members or to join an existing bookclub.

2. Setting some Goals

It is important that you decide early on what you want to get out of a bookclub. Your core group needs to discuss and set some parameters of the style or tone of the bookclub.

Questions to ask yourselves -

Do you want intensive discussion on each book or just enjoyable chat ?

Do you want it to be literary, light or somewhere in between?

Do you want to focus on a particular type of book or genre, or cover a broad spectrum?
i.e. Modern, literary, older classics, fiction or non-fiction, biographies, science fiction or a bit of everything?

Do you want to be extended? Do you all have similar tastes in books and authors? If not, are you happy to be extended on the type of books selected or do you prefer to stick to what you know and love? Many bookclubs can become unstuck on the type of books - they become less tolerant of another members penchant for a type of book they don't like or some want to have more literary books than others….

Do you want the bookclub to be a means of sharing and minimizing the cost of books? Or are you happy for everybody to get/buy their own copy somehow.

3. Deciding the type of Bookclub

There are two broad groupings of types of bookclubs.

A. One Book at a Time:

Bookclubs that select and read one book and meet to discuss that book. Members buy/find their own copy of the agreed book. Probably the most common method. This system works for readers that really want to get into intensive discussion of books. Reading guides or discussion questions can be used to help facilitate the discussion. The cost of buying individual copies of books can be lessened by selecting older books and if planned ahead the members can get them out of the library, from a secondhand bookshop, or borrow them. Many publishers or bookshops will offer a discount if you are buying a quantity of the same book. You can also join a book loan scheme sometimes run in local areas by community groups. Agreeing on the book to read is generally the biggest problem.

B. A Shared Pool of Books:

Members contribute to a diverse pool of books that they each take home and read. Focus is on sharing books, and more casual discussion and opinions.
Generally the host for the month puts two or three new books into the selection. Each member returns the books they have read and talks briefly about whether they enjoyed them or not. Everybody then take turns selecting the books they will take home This is the way that our bookclub works ( the WWW bookclub.) The advantages are that you get a wide variety of books to read and you minimize the cost. The disadvantages are that you don't get in-depth discussion on each book because not everybody has read the book at the same. Sometimes this can be frustrating when you are really itching to discuss an unexpected ending!

You don't have to stick to the one system forever. You may want to try a combination of them both or change after awhile. Some bookclubs use a sharing system, and also discuss one book every now and then.

4. Logistics - When ? Where? How?

When? How often will you run it?

The most popular options are generally between 4 - 6 weekly. Our bookclub (3Ws) started off monthly but now are choosing dates generally 5 weeks apart, as monthly comes around too quickly in our busy lives. Try and select a regular night or time that remains consistent and suits everybody. Decide a time frame ie finishes at 10.00 and try to stick to it. Discussions tend to go on and on and on if you let them!

Where?

Most bookclubs have rotating turns at a different person's house - so if there are around 10 or so in your bookclub you only have it at your house about once a year. Not too onerous. It pays to keep a casual record of who was host each month, as you can easily forget whose turn it is. Other options are to use cafes, restaurants or libraries.

How? Food or not? Agree in advance about the level of food and refreshments expected. Do you want just light nibbles and wine or coffee or do you want to go all the way and have a whole meal? Some bookclubs stipulate that the food is only to be bought snacks/biscuits so that there is no competition or outdoing each other with home baking, but if you are a group of gourmets and time is not an issue - you could go all the way! Some groups have 'bring a plate' shared meals, even matching the food to the theme of the book. In the 3W bookclub we prefer to keep it simple, but nice - the host provides a couple of bottles of wine, a plate of nibbles, tea/coffee and some biscuits or baking at the end.

5. Selecting the Books

Make sure you all agree in principle with how broad or narrow your selection criterion will be ie. modern, classics, particular genres, literary, hi-brow or low-brow etc. It can be a sensitive issue, if somebody suggests a personal favourite and it gets criticized by everybody. So be careful about sarcasm and devastating low blows about other peoples taste!

A. If you are running the One Book a Month method, the system for selecting a book is imperative. Some groups plan a whole year's books in advance at an initial meeting - everybody puts in 2- 3 suggestions and take a vote, a list is then drawn up for the 12 months and people can plan in advance how to get hold of a copy of that book. Another common method is that you plan who will be host for each month, then that person is responsible for choosing the book for that month. They need to advise every body a month before their date to allow for people to get hold of and read the book or they can take responsibility for buying enough copies of the book and the others pay them back.

Book Loan schemes operate in many countries -From a wide selection of books, classics and recent fiction, a set of reading books is provided each month with reading notes. An annual subscription for each bookclub member covers the cost of postage and adding new sets of book to the list.
In NZ FWEA email bookswea@ihug.co.nz

In Australia http://www.cae.edu.au/bookgroups/index.php

B. Shared pool. When you are setting up the bookclub every body puts in a couple of books to initially get a starting selection. Ongoing, the host for each month chooses and buys an agreed number of new books to add to the pool. Often other members will also add books of their own that they have bought and read and might want to share. For a bookclub of around 10 people the pool tends to end up at around forty to sixty books. There isn't a problem with duplicating the occasional book as this allows more members to read it in a shorter time frame. Have a clean out of older books occasionally, either giving them back to the owner or donating them to charity etc. You need to agree in advance the type of books that you want to see in the pool, but the beauty of this system is that you can get a wide and diverse range - a few literary, a few just for laughs. It tends to be good to get some diversity and different authors that people might not ordinarily choose for themselves. Do agree on what you don't want to see - i.e. trashy thrillers, romance, obscure literary etc. If one member loves a particular genre and everybody else can't be bothered, it gets a bit tiresome if they insist on putting one in all the time. Do try and set up a system (spreadsheet or notebook) to record who takes which book home and who is the original owner, books do get lost under beds.



6. Discussing the books.

Many times the discussion just flows naturally from your enjoyment of the book but if you think you need extra input, you could…
.
-Choose a conversation leader. This could be the host for the month, or perhaps another rotating member. The leader needs to be aware of each member's different styles of discussing - some people have no problem giving their opinions and find it hard to hold themselves back while others need to be encouraged! It is a good idea, early on in the life of a bookclub, to discuss what each person thinks is their own style in a discussion - the louder, more extroverted ones don't generally mind the occasional reminder to hold back, if it is done in humour.

-Discussion Questions/Reading guides You can often get discussion questions off the internet for a particular book. Try the discussion questions here or on publisher's websites. Don't fall into the trap of using discussion questions that make you feel like you are in a literary exam. They are only meant to be conversation starters and help focus your group's thinking about a book. Also watch out for alienating somebody who doesn't feel quite as literary as the others - everybody's opinion is valid.

-Leader sets discussion topics. The leader (the host or the person who chose the particular book) could choose some favourite passages in the book to start the discussion and have some basic discussion questions ready to get it going, A bit of research about the author or background to the book helps. Emailing the others before hand with some question starters is a good idea.

-Individual preparation. As preparation each individual chooses a favourite passage, a question about something they didn't understand, or something about the book or author to add to the conversation. Take it in turns to talk about each person's response to the book. Preparation shouldn't become too much like homework though!

-General Topic Guidelines. These are some general topic guidelines. Bear in mind these are very general - each book will have specific issues that will leap out at you.

Subject - What is the book about?, Why did the author choose this?
Plot - does it work? Too simple or complicated? Resolved or unresolved? Time frame? Is the ending satisfying or not? Why?
Characters - Single or many? Well developed or simple? How did you feel about the characters? How does the author use the characters to tell the story?
Point of view - How was the story told? - one voice or many? In the first person -" I" - or a distant narrator's voice? How did the voice influence the tone of the story?
Setting - Where and when? Is the setting important to the story? Is it evoked well? Realistic? Or not? Does it matter?
Themes - What are the major themes the author is trying to explore?
Style - what is the author's style of writing? Ie descriptive, lyrical, forceful, emotive, spare, blunt, wordy, … Does the style work for you or not?
Reviews - find some critics opinions of the books and discuss whether you agree or disagree.
Author - compare with other books, What is the author trying to achieve with the writing? What works for you or doesn't? Will you try and read another one by this author?
Enjoyment - was reading this book enjoyable or hard work? Why? What do you think the author wanted you to feel or think?

Generally it is better to let the discussion flow from what you think of the book. Often the best books for discussion are the ones that polarize opinions- half the group love the book and the others hate it and nobody can understand how they can!. If nobody feels particularly strongly about the book, then have coffee early and discuss something else!

7. Other Ideas

What ever format works for your group is up to you but you can still change and adapt it as you go along. It is often a good idea to do something different or totally creative occasionally. Some ideas are…

-Have a theme night. Pick a theme i.e. Indian, Italian, Western, New York, Irish, medieval…choose the books around the theme, more than one maybe, and organize the food, music etc to match the theme.

-Have an author night - choose one author and each member reads a different book and reports back briefly. Compare main themes or issues.

-Have your bookclub somewhere different occasionally - ie a café, a restaurant, a library, on a boat, go away for a weekend retreat, go to an authors night at a bookstore..

-Have a murder mystery night. Who dunnits? Play cluedo….

-Remember each person's birthday each month with a small gift….

-Organize a fund for a chosen charity.

-Go to the movies, see the movie version of a book you have read - often deeply disappointing but makes for great conversation!

-If you are all parents have a kids book night - Share and discuss your kids favourites.

-Have book-free special occasion nights -Christmas, Halloween etc

-An annual voting night. Vote for your best book/s of the year. Sometimes these are our best nights. Nobody ever agrees!

-Give each other anonymous Christmas presents. Each member draws the name of another to select for. Selecting a book for another person is often an interesting exercise.

-Act out the characters in a book. Each person randomly gets a character in the book you are discussing and have to either act them out or talk about how they feel and why they behave the way they do.

-Turn your book into a movie. Decide which actors should play the roles, where it should be set and who should direct etc.

-Come up with alternative endings. If the book has an ending that is a bit controversial or dull try getting everybody to write their own preferred ending.

- Have a political/current events night. Select some books that link to current political or social issues and get into a heavier discussion - genetics, conservation, politics, global economy, brands, poverty, religion, whatever…….

-have your own literary awards. Read the latest winners of major literary awards and give your verdicts.

Above all have fun! Reading is a pleasurable way of extending yourself, it should never be a chore.

[diem]

[color=navy]Start 'em young, I believe.

I believe the cure for a country of non-readers is to promote reading as an important fun activity for children nationwide at all levels to enjoy the act of reading as much as playing games, as well as making reading materials affordable and accessible to everyone.