Six members attended this session - 5 women and one man - with ages ranging from late 30s to late 60s, including some retirees but mostly working adults. They reported about twice as many members, on average, before the library staff involvement ended. They met in a small meeting room of the library, having been displaced from a larger room since the club was no longer led by a librarian. Two members had discussed this policy with library staff and there seemed to be some confusion about it. The room would be quite cramped with any more than 6 attendees. No food or drink was served and there was no plan to do so at the next meeting either.
The oldest member of the group functioned as the administrative leader. She had prepared a list of questions and, while giving others a chance to contribute, focused on working through the entire list of questions, even when comments began to veer off in other directions still related to the book and its themes. It worked well enough for this meeting, but over time a strict adherence to a list of questions prepared each time by one person could make the group seem more like a literature class and less like a book club.
Another member, a semi-retired sociology professor, seems to be the informal leader. She is more likely to let the discussion follow an unscripted path, based on ideas and questions arising from the core questions. The two leaders were very polite in their exchanges, but as an observer it seemed to me that the group will likely need to choose one format - formal, or informal - in order to sustain the group over time. A third member belongs to several book clubs and after the formal and informal leaders, she contributed the most to the discussion.
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks was the chosen title the night I visited. The structured leader first went around the table asking everyone if they had finished the book. Of the six members, three had finished, two were nearly finished and one had not had a chance to read the book but came to the meeting to take part in planning for the future of the club. Overall, enjoyment of the book varied from "not at all" to "interesting but too violent."
The book is a historical fiction examination of David of the Bible, not as the heroic shepherd boy facing off with the giant Goliath, but as the flawed adult who lusted for power and passion. Two of the questions that sparked the most discussion were What is the meaning of the title? and Is David a good leader? The latter brought comparisons to contemporary leaders, deemed good or bad, and inevitably to current presidential candidates. Everyone seemed intrigued by the title, but while interested, the comments didn't really coalesce around any one potential meaning. (I was curious and did some research after the meeting and found an extended interview with the author in which she attributes her inspiration for the title to hearing her son playing Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" on the harp. (McEvoy) The song's first lines are: "I heard there was a secret chord that David played and it pleased the Lord.")
The last portion of the meeting centered on choosing titles for the next four months. Everyone contributed ideas and, although I was trying not to intrude in their discussion, several of the members are patrons of both the library where they meet and the branch where I work, which is part of a different system. They are used to talking about books with me and asked for my input on several titles they were considering.
Ultimately they settled on Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale, The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, Anne Tyler's A Spool of Blue Thread, and Persuasion by Jane Austen for their next four monthly meetings. The group expressed a desire to mix some non-fiction and classics with popular fiction for their selections.
Overall the now-independent club seems determined to continue and even grow by inviting new members to join and based on one visit, they seem to have a core of dedicated readers who can make that happen.
Source:
McEvoy, M. (2015, October 3). The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks Shows a Bible Hero's Human Flaws. The Sydney Morning News. Retrieved March 10, 2016, from http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/the-secret-chord-by-geraldine-brooks-shows-a-bible-heros-human-flaws-20150925-gju1cl.html
That is too bad that their numbers are down due to the library no longer coordinating. I wonder why they decided that. But at least there are some core members, and it sounds like it is well organized. One of my groups is reading The Nightingale and Spool of Blue Thread, too. I've read the latter and am now reading the former... both excellent titles!
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