Book Club Experience

For my book club experience, I found a nearby library system that hosts a book club called Books and Beans in coffee shops throughout Johnson County, Indiana. I had honestly never attended a book club before and have only observed bits and pieces of the one we host at the library I work at, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. The meeting was on a Monday morning which I found interesting because so many others that I’ve seen are in the evening or on weekends, but the timing fit nicely with the coffee theme. It did perhaps make it harder for some people to attend, but that’s always going to be the case with a daytime program or event.

The experience didn’t start out amazing, but that was my fault when I went to the wrong coffee shop even though I had the proper information in my emails. After I solved that hiccup and actually got to the right place, it went better! I got a coffee and settled in at the table with the rest of the book club attendees. I did disclose my purpose being there for school and that seemed to worry the participants at first, but I promised I wasn’t there to judge or critique them! The group was small, with three attendees, two librarians, and me but it sounded like more members come and go throughout the year as they’re able. The February meeting was the first one of the year, so that may have had something to do with the low attendance. There were no men, which didn’t surprise me.

The book we had read for the meeting was The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. The other attendees had copies from the Johnson County Library. In the interest of full disclosure, I hadn’t completely finished the book prior to the meeting but had tried to skim through everything the night before. I didn’t care for it too much, and eventually came to found out the other attendees and librarians hadn’t loved it either! It was interesting to see the discussion and lack of passion when we all didn’t find the book very exciting. I imagine the discussions and energy are very different when everyone enjoyed the book.

The two librarians were the leaders of the book discussion, with a list of questions they read. After reading the questions, they let the attendees respond first before also offering their own opinions and takeaways about the book. The questions were all pretty broad and interpretive, asking us to think about what certain parts meant or what characters motivations were. Some of them were honestly a bit difficult to think of a good answer for! Unfortunately, because most of us didn’t love the book, we didn’t remember a lot of small details, so the discussions weren’t super involved. Despite this, I would say that all attendees spoke about equally as did both librarians. Everyone seemed like they were regulars to the book club meetings and knew each other fairly well already and were polite about each other’s opinions. Everyone was also kind and respectful to me when I gave my opinions and interpretations about the book too, which felt welcoming as an outsider to the group.

Since the book club takes place at coffee shops, the atmosphere is very casual and relaxed. The café we were at was bustling with activity while we were there. I appreciated how it felt more informal than book clubs I’ve seen actually in libraries, including the one that happens monthly at my library. If I were to attend a book club regularly, I would definitely be more inclined to choose an off-sight one like this in the future. There were no drinks or snacks officially provided by the book club, but the coffee shops all have plenty of options for purchase. Drinking a hot coffee on a cold Monday morning was a nice addition to the book discussion.

The meeting went a few minutes longer than an hour as the chatter went off on a few tangents, but the time passed quickly. At the end, the librarians passed out the schedule for the year’s meetings including the locations as well as the chosen books. It sounded like the attendees had some say in the selections as well. The librarians also passed out the books for next month at the end of the meeting. I took the paper with the schedule on it to see the future books they would discuss. Most titles seemed in the realm of literary fiction or historical fiction, though there were a couple of biographies as well including next month’s Finding Me by Viola Davis.

Overall, the experience was an enjoyable one except for the stress of going to the wrong location at first. The discussion was fun and interesting, and everyone was welcoming. I loved the fact that they meet at coffee shops because that makes book clubs feel more accessible and less awkward in my opinion. However, I don’t think I’ll be returning for future meetings but that’s just because 9am on Mondays isn’t something I can do regularly!