How to Structure a Meeting

Basic Ground Rules

1. Members who havent read the book. Come anyway. Not everyone can
finish every book, but non-readers may still have valuable insights.

2. Disagreements about the book. Be gracious! There is no one way to

experience or interpret a book. In fact, differing opinions are good.

3. Members who prefer to socialize. Be gentle but firm. Insist that discussion
time be limited to the book. Some clubs hold book discussions first and invite
"social members" to join afterward.

4. Dominating personalities. Never easy. Lets hear from some others is one
approach. Some clubs pass an object around the room; you talk only when
you hold the object. If the person continues to dominate, a friendly phone call
(no e-mail) might work. If all fails, well...sometimes they've just got to gofor
the good of the club.

Meeting Format

1. Allow 2 to 2-1/2 hours per meeting

o 30-45 min. social time

o 15-20 min. club administrative matters

o 60-90 min. book discussion

2. Establish a format. Find what works for everyone and stick with it.

Holding the Discussion

1. With a leader

o Appoint a club memberwhoever selected the book or the person who

is hosting. Some clubs have one member who enjoys leading all
discussions.

o Invite an outside facilitator (English teacher or librarian), paid or unpaid.

2. Without a leader

o Take turns going around the room, allowing each member to talk about
his or her experience reading the book.
 o Hand out index cards. Ask everyone to write a question or observation;
then select one or more to discuss.

How to Select Books

Some Do's & Don'ts

1. Don't read favorites. Reading a book someone "just loves" can lead to hurt
feelingslike inviting people into your living room to critique your decor.
Ouch. Best to stay on neutral territory.

2. Do mix genres. A steady diet of one thing can be dull, dull, dull. Try
interspersing fictioncurrent and classicwith nonfiction: poetry, history, or
biography.

3. Do explore themes. Focus on a specific author, travel journals, childhood

memoirs, books on food, or a literary issue (family, loss, working of fate). Don't
do it for the whole year (see #2 above), maybe just 3 or 4 months.

4. Don't choose for the whole year. It ties you into a rigid year-long schedule
with no flexibility to add exciting new works you might learn about. And it's
unfair for those who miss that one meeting.

5. Do choose 2 or 3 at a time. This allows members to read at their own pace.

It's especially helpful for those who travel or miss a meeting or two.

Ways to Select

1. Vote -- All members make suggestions, followed by an open discussion, and

vote.

2. Rotate -- Members take turns, each choosing a book for a given month.

Finding Book Ideas

1. Book Club Resources on the Web (listed above)

2. Daily & weekly periodicals - The New York Times Book Review (every
Sunday) is the biggie. But other periodicals review books, too: many local
newspapers, USA Today, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News, People, Vanity Fair, to
name some. My favorite is Bookmarks Magazine. Your library should carry it;
if not, ask them to. Or pony up for your own subscription.

3. Libraries and bookstores - Check out your public library, local bookstores,
and national book chains. Most carry their own recommended book lists or
lists of what other clubs are reading.

4. Top 100 Lists - At the close of the 20th century, collections of "best works"
were issued. These are lists of the great classics. Who's on what list and
who's not has been the subject of much debate. Try these links:
 o BBC: The Big Read-Top 100 (2003; Accessed January 31, 2013)

o The Guardian: The Top 100 Books of All Time (2002; Accessed
January 31, 2013)

o Harvard Book Store: Top 100 Books (2010; Accessed January

31, 2013)

o Modern Library: 100 Best Nonfiction (1999; Accessed January

31, 2013)

o Modern Library: 100 Best Novels (1998; Accessed January 31,

2013)

o Radcliffe Publishing Course selection of the top 20th century

novels (1998;

o Top 100 (1998; Accessed January 31, 2013) Has explanation of

how and why the Modern Library lists were developed.
and if 100 isn't enough, try 1001, either in simple list form or in
the published book, 1001 Books You Must Read Before You
Die, edited by Peter Boxall, a lecturer in English Literature at the
University of Sussex (New York: Universe Publishing, 2006).

5. ALA Public Programs Office: Book and Media Programs

The ALA Public Programs Office has long been at the forefront of library
discussion programs. In 1982, ALA launched the first national book discussion
series, Lets Talk About It. Since then, the range of discussion programs
developed and presented by the ALA Public Programs Office has included film
and audio discussion series, family reading, discussion and storytelling series,
theme-based book discussion series, a radio program/reading discussion
program, and more.

How to Hold a Book Discussion

If you're leading a book discussion

1. Choose one question at a time and toss it out to the group. (See Generic
Discussion Questions below.)

2. Select a number of questions, write each on an index card, and pass them
out. Each member (or a team of 2 or 3) takes a card and answers the
question.

3. Use a prop ( or object) related to the story. It can help stimulate members'
thinking about some aspect of the story. It's adult show & tell!
 o maps, photographs, paintings, food, apparel, a music recording, a film
sequence

4. Pick out a specific passage from the book description, an idea, a line of
dialogueand ask members to comment on it.

o How does the passage reflect a character...or the work's central

meaning...or members' lives or personal beliefs?

5. Choose a primary character and ask members to comment on him or her.

Consider:

o character traits, motivations, how he/she affects the story's events and
characters.

6. Play a literary game. Use an icebreaker activity to loosen you up and get
your discussion off to an enthusiastic start.

7. Distribute hand-outs to everyone in order to refresh memories or use as

talking points. Identify the primary characters and summarize the plot.

If you're taking part in a book discussion

1. Avoid "like" or dislike. Those terms aren't very helpful for moving
discussions forward, and they can make others feel defensive. Instead, talk
about your experience, how you felt as you read the book.

2. Support your views. Use specific passages from the book as evidence for
your ideas. This is a literary analysis technique called close reading.

3. Take notes as you read. Jot down particularly interesting passages:

something that strikes you or, maybe, that you don't understand. Take your
notes to the meeting.

Book Discussion Questions (Generic)

Review of sources of questions for specific books, including tips for web searching.

For Fiction

1. How did you experience the book? Were you immediately drawn into the
story--or did it take you a while? Did the book intrigue, amuse, disturb,
alienate, irritate, or frighten you?

2. Do you find the characters convincing? Are they believable? Compelling?

Are they fully developed as complex, emotional human beings--or are they
one-dimensional?
 3. Which characters do you particularly admire or dislike? What are their
primary characteristics?

4. What motivates a given characters actions? Do you think those actions are
justified or ethical?

5. Do any characters grow or change during the course of the novel? If so, in
what way?

6. Who in this book would you most like to meet? What would you askor say?

7. If you could insert yourself as a character in the book, what role would you
play? You might be a new character or take the place of an existing one.

8. Is the plot well-developed? Is it believable? Do you feel manipulated along

the way, or do plot events unfold naturally, organically?

9. Is the story plot or character driven? In other words, do events unfold

quickly? Or is more time spent developing characters' inner lives? Does it
make a difference to your enjoyment?

10. Consider the ending. Did you expect it or were you surprised? Was it
manipulative? Was it forced? Was it neatly wrapped up--too neatly? Or was
the story unresolved, ending on an ambiguous note?

11. If you could rewrite the ending, would you? In other words, did you find the
ending satisfying? Why or why not.

12. Can you pick out a passage that strikes you as particularly profound or
interesting--or perhaps something that sums up the central dilemma of the
book?

13. Does the book remind you of your own life? An event or situation? A person--
a friend, family member, boss, co-worker?

14. If you were to talk with the author, what would you want to know? (Many
authors enjoy talking with book clubs. Contact the publisher to see if you can
set up a phone chat.)

15. Have you read the authors other books? Can you discern a similarityin
theme, writing style, structurebetween them? Or are they completely
different?

Back to top

For Non-Fiction

1. If your book is a cultural portrait --of life in another country, or different

region of your own country--start with these questions first:
 o What does the author celebrate or criticize in the culture? Consider
family traditions, economic and political structures, the arts, language,
food, religious beliefs.

o Does the author wish to preserve or reform the culture? If reform,

what and how? Either wayby instigating change or by maintaining
the status quowhat would be gained or what would be at risk?

o How does the culture differ from yours? What was most surprising,
intriguing, difficult to understand? After reading the book, have you
gained a new perspectiveor did the book affirm your prior views?

2. Does the book offer a central idea or premise? What are the problems or
issues raised? Are they personal, spiritual, societal, global, political,
economic, medical, scentific?

3. Do the issues affect your life? How sodirectly, on a daily basis, or more
generally? Now or sometime in the future?

4. What evidence does the author give to support the book's ideas? Does
he/she use personal observations and assessments? Facts? Statistics?
Opinions? Historical documents? Scientific research? Quotations from
authorities?

5. Is the evidence convincing? Is it relevant or logical? Does it come from

authoritative sources? (Is the author an authority?) Is the evidence
speculative...how speculative?

6. Some authors make assertions, only to walk away from themwithout

offering explanations. It's maddening. Does the author use such unsupported
claims?

7. What kind of language does the author use? Is it objective and

dispassionate? Or passionate and earnest? Is it polemical, inflammatory,
sarcastic? Does the language help or undercut the author's premise?

8. Does the authoror can youdraw implications for the future? Are there
long- or short-term consequences to the problems or issues raised in the
book? If so, are they positive or negative? Affirming or frightening?

9. Does the authoror can youoffer solutions to the problems or issues

raised in the book? Who would implement those solutions? How probable is
success?

10. Does the author make a call to action to readersindividually or collectively?

Is that call realistic? Idealistic?Achievable? Would readers be able to affect
the desired outcome?

11. Are the book's issues controversial? How so? And who is aligned on which
sides of the issues? Where do you fall in that line-up?
12. Can you point to specific passages that struck you personallyas
interesting, profound, silly or shallow, incomprehensible, illuminating?

13. Did you learn something new reading this book? Did it broaden your
perspective about a difficult personal issue? Or a societal issue? About
another culture in another country... or about an ethnic / regional culture in
your own country?