As my Mission Trail Book Club nears its second anniversary, I attribute its success to a solid foundation. In our inaugural meeting in January 2024, the founding members defined what a serious book club should look like and formulated the club’s ground rules. Many of us experienced book clubs that devolved into food fests in which putting out the best spread became the center of attention and not discussion of the book. The book may have been given fifteen minutes of discussion, and then the group lapsed into social chitchit for the rest of the meeting. We were determined to create a framework in which lively and stimulating book discussions would occur.
What constitutes a serious book club? We agreed it is where books of substance are read and discussed for at least an hour and where thoughtful questions are posed. A serious book club avoids the current trendy books that the commercial market promotes for profit. Such books are usually quick reads with no fresh insights into the human condition or important issues of the day and may exploit trends to sell a book on a popular topic. Unless a case is made that the current bestseller is important for both its substance and literary merit, a serious book club should not consider it. We wanted to read authors with a command of language and an accomplished writing style.
A serious book club considers both fiction and non-fiction and looks for books of enduring value. They can be found among the classics of the literary canon, Booker Prize, Pulitzer, Nobel, and National Book Award winners. Serious does not mean that funny, satirical books are not chosen or that we don’t joke, laugh, and giggle a lot at our book club meetings.
We limited refreshments to drinks and light snacks. To avoid endless reminders about when and where the meeting would be each month, we set the fourth Sunday of the month at the same time and location. We compiled a calendar of books to read for the year and selected the books that received the most votes from on list of members’ suggestions. We read a mix of fiction and non-fiction.
To ensure that discussion did not peter out in the first ten minutes, we decided every member should come to the meeting with a response to three questions: 1) What surprised you about the book? 2) What did you learn from reading this book? 3) What was your favorite passage, or any passage that evoked either a strong positive or negative reaction? Beyond these basic conversation starters, readers should bring why, how, and what questions to the group. These could be questions about aspects of the book they did not understand or puzzled them about the plot, characters, or theme. They could raise questions about points they agreed with or disagreed with.
This method of operation has worked for us. Enthusiasm remains high, and members say the club is the most stimulating and purpose-driven club they have ever attended. Their enthusiasm shows no signs of diminishment after two years, and they have frequently invited new people to join us.
The club thrives because we have read books of substance although there have been duds along the way because the book’s description did not live up to our expectations, but we are close, critical readers who can identify the reasons the book failed to deliver. Some of the books that sparked the liveliest discussions are: The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain, The Overstory by Richard Powers, and Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.
If there is one thing missing from our club that I wish could be remedied, it is the absence of male voices. To date, no husbands or male friends have been induced to participate. What a pity that we do not have the male perspective, particularly, for analysis of male characters. The preponderance of women in book clubs is not unusual, but men’s interpretations certainly would add another dimension to our club.
But for now, we have a vibrant club of six active participants who all contribute greatly to the discussions. The early planning and organization of the club contributed to this success.
