The Reading Circle meets at Kennedy Library in Muncie,
Indiana, the second Tuesday of every month from 12 to 1 PM. You can bring your lunch and something to
drink. I was told that there is someone
there who always brings something to share and today someone had brought in
chili and cookies to share with everyone.
They sit around tables that are in a square shape so that everyone is
able to see each other. There were 15
people in attendance.
The book that they were taking about this month is Small
Great Things by Jodi Picoult. To
start off the conversation the leader, an adult service librarian, asked the
question: How do you feel about the change in Turk from joining the White
Supremist to in the end of the book getting out of the White Supremist? From this time on, the leader only had to
speak once or twice more during this time.
This group of people where talking about the book nonstop. They would bring in personal experiences into
some of the comments they were making.
There were several participants who came with note they had from the
book or questions they wanted to ask the rest of the group. Everyone participated. The one item they wished for this club
meeting was they wish that there would have been a variety of races there to share
about the book since one theme of the book is about race relations. This meeting was ran smoothly even when the
participants would disagree with each other, they all remained civil. I think that this group could have ran itself
even with out having a ‘leader’. To end
the meeting, the library handed out the book for the next reading circle meeting.
This book is not normally a book that I would choose to read
for myself. I had only read ¾ of the
book before I had arrived at the meeting.
I felt like I could return the book to the library without finishing it
and not caring about not have finished reading.
After leaving the meeting I felt like, great, now I need to finish the
rest of the book, so I can see what’s going to happen.
It sounds like you observed a really active book club! Did you end up contributing at all, or did you just observe? My book club had less people in it (7) and the librarian lead the discussion and talked a lot of the time, and I did end up participating in the discussion. I do wonder if the conversation would have flowed better (and the librarian speaking less) if the group had been larger, or if it was just the nature of the group members/book choice.
ReplyDeleteI did not verbally contribute to the group, however I do believe they would have been more then fine with it, I did a lot of nodding and shaking of my head if I agreed or disagreed with what was being said.
DeleteMary,
ReplyDeleteI love that participants brought in notes they took from their reading of the book and questions to ask! I think that's great to come prepared with things to clarify and discuss. Did the librarian welcome the notes/ questions?
Thank you.
The librarian didn't mention anything about the notes or questions. Since there were at least 4 people that I remember using notes and she didn't say anything, I'm guessing they were fine to have them. Some of the people who didn't have written notes, had places in their books marked where they wanted to share their ideas. I think both of those things were great.
DeleteI don't know if having a leader kept them civil or if the group had some underlying rule about keeping things running civil. They all seemed like they really wanted to know what everyone thought about the book and they weren't looking for huge disagreements to get in the way.
ReplyDeleteMary,
ReplyDeleteWow! Someone brought chili? That sounds so delicious! Honestly, food always motivates me to attend certain events, especially when it's free! It seems like this book had a lot of tough issues to discuss. I think it's great when the book club participants guide the discussion more than the facilitator. Hope you enjoyed the rest of the book!
I did enjoy the rest of the book. It didn't turn out as I thought it would which was a good surprise. I agree that food always motivates me to attend events as well.
ReplyDeleteMary,
ReplyDeleteI really attached to your comment that the group could have run itself. I personally love when my groups feel comfortable posing questions to each other and continuing the conversation without intervention from me. I think that this is a tale tell sign of a good group that is really invested in what they have read and their interest in sharing their opinions with each other.
What a cool group! I like that people could bring their lunch and someone brings something to share. I imagine that makes it very welcoming and comfortable for someone who doesn't necessarily know what to expect coming in--I know I'd worry coming into an unknown quantity whether I need to bring something or not!
ReplyDeleteI think it is really cool that going into the book club you, personally, did not feel like you needed to finish the book. Yet now that you have seen all the discussion it can bring, want to finish it! I always find the act of reading(or writing for that matter) a little lonely, yet some of the best social conversations come from it!
ReplyDeleteExcellent observations, I'm glad you'll finish the book. Would you attend another one? Full points!
ReplyDelete