Friday, September 17, 2010
Attendees: Susan, Barbara, Jacqueline, Julianne, and Kristen
We started our meeting by talking about what type of book club we'd like to be. Each of us went around the circle and gave our thoughts on the types of books we'd prefer to read, as well as how the club should be structured. All of us agreed that none of the decisions made tonight would be set in stone, since so many people who expressed interest in the club were unable to attend the first meeting. But we figured it would be a good idea to start with something and then tweak it as needed in the months ahead.
FORMAT
We decided that we'd start by meeting once per month, on a Friday at 7pm. Again, this is subject to change once we have more people attending. We can meet at either a Starbucks, a bookstore like 3rd Place Books, or at someone's home who is willing and able to host; the venue for the club meetings can be flexible. Our next meeting will be on Friday, October 15th. Depending on whether this date and time works for her and her family, we can meet either at Kim's house or at the Lake City Way Starbucks again. Kim, let us know if this day works for you. We also discussed the possibility of reading a book by an upcoming visiting author, then going together to see the author speak.
We decided that we'd rotate on which member would choose the book to read. When it's a member's turn to choose, he/she will come up with a list of 3 potential books, then the group as a whole will select which one to read. There won't be any rule that it has to be a book that no one has already read; we have some voracious readers in the group, so it would potentially be too difficult to find something we would all like to read if we insist on only books that no one has read.
We'll aim for the meeting to last about 90 minutes, with the first half-hour for socializing, the second 30-45 minutes for discussing the book, and the last part for voting on and discussing our next pick. However, we realize that the length of the entire meeting as well as its individual parts will vary depending on the book we read. At our Oct. 15th meeting, we can talk about how to organize the rotation for choosing potential books.
Lastly, we all agreed that we should maintain an atmosphere of tolerance around the book we choose and our opinions of its merit. It's not the end of the world if we don't personally like the book that is chosen, or if our views on it are very different than the consensus of the group. Some of us have had experiences at book groups where someone's feelings are hurt, or someone is over-the-top dismissive of another person's opinion, so we're all committed to keeping things fun and relaxed at this book club.
BOOKS
All of us had the chance to share about the types of books we personally like to read, as well as those we generally stay away from. Rather than write down each of our preferences, I think it's more useful to summarize the upshot of our discussion:
Summary of book preferences:
* Open to both fiction and non-fiction
* Revisiting classics (Catcher in the Rye, Jane Austen, etc.)
* Historical fiction
* Female authors/books with a female main character
* Well-written popular literature
* Young adult
* Genres we'd like to stay away from in the book club: Romance (i.e. Harlequin, bodice-busting stuff), Self-help, books with very dark or nihilistic
themes, junk-food books (i.e. Jackie Collins, Danielle Steel, etc.)
For our October 15th meeting, we decided to read the book "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay. This book, a Times best seller, was recommended to Julianne, who brought reviews of it and several other books. We all thought that this would be a good book to start with. Here's a brief description:
"Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours. Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life. Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode."
And a brief review from the Library Journal: "Masterly and compelling, it is not something that readers will quickly forget. Highly recommended."
I (Kristen) plan on visiting Half-Priced Books today or tomorrow to see if I can get a copy. As soon as I'm done, I'm happy to loan it to other book club members. Ideally we'll be able to buy a few copies of each month's books then circulate them among members. We can also check the library.
If anyone has any questions about any of these notes, please let me know. Jacqueline/Julianne/Susan/Barbara -- If I've left anything out or made any errors on how I reported anything, please let me know as well.
We hope you can all join us at our next meeting on Friday, October 15, at 7pm, place TBD.
Thanks!
Kristen
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