Ambassador of Books ~ Book Club Madam ~ Blogger Gal

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Lovely Links #5: To Book Club or Not To Book Club?

This edition of Lovely Links is inspired by National Reading Group Month here in the US and brought to you by The Book Club Madam (that's me).
  • Are you in a face-to-face book club? An online book club? Or do you avoid structured reading like the plague? A few weeks back MizB did a Musings Monday on this exact topic ... check out the answers and links in the comments!
  • Have you ever visited my book club's blog? It's only updated a few times a month but I do include our members thoughts on and ratings of each book we read.

  • Random House Publishing is hosting a Book Club Fest all month featuring author interviews and some giveaways too.

  • Are you part of a book group? If so, chances are that you are already familiar with this site. It's a great resource for book club tips. Even if you're not in a club but you'd STILL enjoy this site if you like hearing from authors - there are author guest posts every few days. Hey, did you know that I'm one of the blog's contributors?

  • If you live anywhere near San Jose, CA, there's still time to register for this amazing event. I WILL get there one day, I promise! Here's what authors are saying about it. Are you going?
So tell me, are you part of a book club? Why or why not? Post a comment and share your thoughts!

14 comments:

Lollipop Goldstein said...

I am and I love it--I just like reading with others rather than in a vacuum.

Arian said...

I have always wanted to be a part of a book club but I either devour books too quickly or become overloaded with other projects. Hubby hates it when I read because I "disappear in the pages" and he says I neglect him. I can't imagine how he would feel if I did join a group.

Our town is also a bit too small for things like this. It is still a wonderful thing to think about sometimes! Grown up literary conversation...sigh...

battynurse said...

I don't belong to any book clubs but love to read. I am however trying to start up my own online (sort of) book exchange. So far it's going very slow.

Cara said...

I am, a face to face one...but I am also looking forward to the next selection on Miss Lollipop's blog.

I enjoy hearing how the same words can evoke a different reaction or even, mental picture, from different people.

Kristin said...

I participate in Mel's online book club. I would love to go to a "in person" book club but my kids' schedules preclude that.

Yasmin said...

I belong to a book club and love discussing reads with other like-minded individuals. Additionally, because we're online, we can discuss books everyday...WHICH I LOVE...and we do...there's always someone reading a book who's looking for somewhere else to discuss it with...and there's always someone else who wants to. I've read many books that I would not have because of my book club sisters and I've discovered many books that I would not have because of my book club family.
I heart my book club family.

JuliaS said...

My email support group has a bit of an "informal" reading club. We tend to read the same books and sometimes discussion comes up.

I use to hate being told what to read in English class growing up. I read most of the books - but I liked getting to them in my own time and when I was in "the mood" for that particular tome.

Though I do enjoy being able to talk about books with other people now.

You have a fun blog. :0)

Stephanie said...

I've been thinking about it. The local library has one that has a daytime and a nighttime meeting, which is perfect- my husband just switched to the 3-11 shift, so I could make the morning one. I just don't know if they'd want my annoying, picky, opinionated-and-not-afraid-to-voice-my-opinion self there. ;)

Sarah said...

I don't belong to a real-life book club (mostly because my town doesn't have any, at least that I know of), but I am a member of several on-line book clubs through Ravelry (a knitting site.) There are several groups, some of which focus on books from certain centuries. I like the online format since there is no pressure, and I can choose what books I want to read. I don't feel pressure to read ones I'm not interested in, and can chime in whenever I want to a month-long discussion.

Dreamybee said...

I used to belong to a local book club. We only had about 5 regular members and a couple others that would come and go. We'd usually only spend about 10 minutes talking about our book and the rest of the hour talking about movies, life, and other local events, so we changed the official name from a book club to a media club. Sometimes the books got read, sometimes they didn't but it was just nice to get together with everyone and have a night out to celebrate our common interests. Our group sort of fell apart, and I miss our meetings. I might have to join an on-line group since literary folk don't seem to congregate in Hawaii!

Bybee said...

I totally love my book group. I was in Korea over 2.5 years before I found them, but they were well worth waiting for! Occasionally, we'll get someone unpleasant, but generally everyone is double-cool and wants to get along, without sacrificing good, spirited discussions. With the variety of ages, countries and experiences, there are always good ideas about what we should read and where we should meet floating around.

Anonymous said...

I've been looking for a book club for years. Consider the many independent bookstores that populate San Francisco, I'm very surprised book clubs are meager. I attended one for a few months but I didn't give two straws after their selections, which always have some neurotic characters. Who needs to talk about schizophrenia after a day at work?

Anonymous said...

Heather, my wife and I have been in a club with a Jewish theme for several years. We balance our picks among history, fiction and the spiritual/philosophical. Meetings always include dinner, and to tell the truth, we spend more time eating, drinking and schmoozing than we do discussing the book. But we may not be the only club in America like that. Here's a short profile of the club: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/books/blog/2008/07/daves_book_club.html

Anonymous said...

I just joined a new book club in my neighborhood. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for posting the links--they were very helpful for a newbie to book clubs.

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