May 28, 2015
What’s So Great About Book Clubs, Anyway?
WAMU book lovers Tayla Burney (left), Chris Chester (center) and Jonathan Wilson (right).
As we dive into this Morning Edition book club project, we thought we should start with some fundamentals: What goes into making a book club worth your while? And why should you want to join one, anyway?
Our experience on this front is admittedly limited. I’ve personally been part of two very different kinds of book groups, as you’ll hear. And the guys, well … they’re not joiners.
So we brought in a ringer. Jenn Lawrence is a book reviewer, blogger and the force behind the popular Fiction Book Club at One More Page Books in Arlington, Virginia. I met her through shop owner Eileen McGervey who has joined The Kojo Nnamdi Show in the past. I knew from talking with her that they host a robust community of book clubs there, so I trusted she’d know whom to call.
And she did. Jenn’s enthusiasm is infectious, and she shed a lot of light on what it takes to run a successful book club, which in her case, is a lot:
Now, there are as many kinds of book clubs as there are kinds of people. Maybe you’re more interested in the kind where the main question of the night is “what kind of wine do you want?” and not “what made that character tick?” Or maybe you crave that kind of serious literary discourse and have zero interest in what your fellow readers are doing with their summer vacation time.
The point is, whatever your preference, there’s a group for you. And you’ll probably gain SOMETHING from it. It’s up to you to decide what.
We hope you got something from listening to us today. Tell us what you think! What do you think we should talk about — or whom we should talk with — in the weeks to come? Leave a comment or send us a tweet. Our handles are @jwilson885, @chrisbchester and @taylakaye, respectively.
If you’re reading A God In Ruins along with us, share your thoughts online with the broader public radio community via Reddit and on Twitter with the hashtag #MorningEditionBookClub.
And tune in next week when we talk about the popularity of historic fiction.
Week 1: Join Us For The ‘Morning Edition Book Club’
Week 2: What’s So Great About Book Clubs, Anyway?