Book Club Experience

Last month, I attended an hour-long book club at a library approximately half an hour away from where I live during the late morning, early afternoon hours. The library staff member held the book club in a spacious meeting room with large windows; in the room, the rectangular tables were arranged in a large square, allowing all participants to have a full view of and make eye contact with one another. Having corresponded by email with the group leader, explaining my reason for attending before coming to the book club, they were expecting me and came to speak to me as soon as I sat down and retrieved my notebook. First, they explained that on the table to the right of participants—the majority of whom were elderly—as they entered the room were books in regular print, large print, and audiobooks. They also had printed event schedules and bottles of water on the table for participants to take with them. No snacks were available. As participants who arrived early waited for other members to come in, they talked to each other about recent life occurrences; when the remainder of the participants arrived, the group leader began the book club by updating the group on a participant who recently moved into the assisted living facility and a member who recently passed away, sharing memories of that participant and their function in the group; following the member updates, the group leader talked about upcoming programs at the branch and had us play a game wherein the group leader gave everyone popsicle sticks with a double-sided piece of pink paper, on which one side read one and the other side five. The group leader asked us questions or read statements about our reading habits and likes and dislikes related to reading. We responded by holding up either the one or the five, depending on whether we agreed or disagreed with the question or statement. 

Before commencing the book club, the group leader passed around a map of the Natchez Trail, spanning Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi, where the assigned reading, The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian took place. Mustian’s book is a historical fiction novel that covers racial injustice, gender inequality, and abuse, among other topics. As for the types of books participants typically discuss, future reads include The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles, another historical fiction novel, and Nothing More Dangerous, by Allen Eskens, the genre of which is crime fiction. Although it seems the group leader tries to choose a variety of genres, the issues, and topics explored in each of these three books are similar, which removes some of the diversity in book selection. After speaking about the author’s biography and the geographical setting of the book, the group member passed around strips of numbered, open-ended, thought-provoking questions, which they stated were “meant to spark conversation” (S. Harmon, personal communication, February 16, 2023), and introduced the book by reading the author's biography. Although the group leader encourages members to take at least one question, this is not required. Two participants chose two or three questions to discuss; however, one of those two members spearheaded the conversation, attempting to talk over other participants, causing the group leader to interrupt and refocus the members multiple times. One method through which the group leader refocused participants was by answering the initial question or agreeing or disagreeing with what the member previously stated. They also collected the leftover questions, offering their opinion before opening the conversation up to the rest of the members. In discussion, many group members expressed that Mustian’s book reminded them of Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens because of the similarities in settings, female protagonists, and issues raised within the plot. When the hour allotted for the book club was over, the leader concluded the meeting by asking for the group's consensus about the enjoyability of The Girls in the Stilt House and their satisfaction with the discussion that day.