Book Clubbing

“How do you feel about your discussion skills?”

This was how the conversation began that ended with me agreeing to takeover the monthly book club at one of the library branches. And while I feel I have a pretty good grip on my “discussion skills,” one major obstacle remains – I have never even been to a book club, let alone ran one. Quite frankly, it just never sounded like my cup of tea. And even more frankly, it still doesn’t. But alas, I need to expand my marketable librarian skills, and make more $. So here I am googling my life away, trying to figure out how to conduct one of these things. Thankfully I’m getting somewhat of a reprieve this first month, as I will get to watch my coworker (who is handing it over to me) run the show. And there is one awesome thing about it…if I survive, I get to choose the books for next year. I’ve already decided for sure that they’ll be reading Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the Time Traveler’s Wife.

Any readers (all two of you) been to or ran a book club before? Advice? That would be fantastic.

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6 comments

July 7, 2010 at 5:32 pm

Keke

Hey, Hayley! Like you you, I have never ran, or even attended a book club discussion, but I think it would be a great thing, to get together and discuss a really good book!
I have no doubt that you will do an amazing job, good luck!

July 8, 2010 at 8:10 am

Dad

David Copperfield will keep them tied up for a bit.

July 8, 2010 at 9:55 am

Hayley Jane

That may be a little too long for some of them to read in a month. But I will keep that in mind : )

July 8, 2010 at 3:03 pm

Shellieek

Hi Hayley, I’ve attended and led a few. One thing that helps is to have some stuff for people to agree or disagree with. That way they don’t necessarily have to generate their own words right off the bat. For instance, you could bring parts of book reviews or something “a patron” said about the book. You can also talk about whether the picture or the synopsis on the book jacket were accurate. People might think of you as the expert so your own opinions aren’t that helpful.

July 8, 2010 at 3:08 pm

Thanks for the ideas, Shellie! I’m sure they’ll help a lot!

July 20, 2010 at 10:10 pm

scribejay