My Very First Book Club Meeting - Ever

I'm about to leave for the very first book club meeting I've ever attended in my whole life. I've always wondered about book clubs, but never managed to hook up with one that felt like it might be a fit for me because most of them have near 100% female membership. This sounds sounds a little different, and because I've been invited to attend the meeting by a friend, I'm thinking it's going to be a lot of fun. The clincher is that they are discussing one of my very favorite books.

Michael Punke's Ridgeline takes center stage this evening - and guess what? It's a club in which the host provides food somewhat related to the book being discussed. Considering the 1866 western setting of Ridgeline, beef brisket is the perfect choice for this meet-up. 

But because I read the book almost three years ago, I've been reviewing my April 2021 review and flipping through the book itself most of the afternoon. It will be interesting to see if others enjoyed the story of the 1866 Fetterman Massacre as much as I did. Punke is a historical novelist who bases as much of his plot as he can on facts and real people. He then fills in the blanks. Since history cannot tell us who was responsible for following a small band of Native Americans into a 2000-warrior ambush, Punke comes up with what seems to be the most likely answer. The official Army cover-up on the massacre details was a massive effort by some very influential civilians and military men, and at the very least, the book exposes them as the conscious frauds they were.

Books: Objects of Art vs. Reading Material

While out on an errand a couple of days ago, I made another quick stop at my local Half-Price Books. As a buyer, I've always appreciated the diverse offerings of Half-Price Books but, as a seller, there's no way I'm going to let them rip me off ever again. Anyway, it was only my third visit (second to this store) since early March - and I only allowed myself a window of 15-20 minutes inside while avoiding people as much as possible.

My desire to avoid other customers ended up with me spending more time than usual in the "nostalgia" section of the bookstore. That section is generally filled with over-priced and worn out books from the fifties and sixties, but it also includes a lot of special editions that are printed especially for collectors. Stuff from publishers like the Folio Society, The Franklin Library, Easton Press, etc. Some of the books are bound in leather, some come in slipcases, and most of them include some really wonderful illustrations on high-quality paper. They are, in fact, rather beautiful, little pieces of art.

And that leads me to my question. Do book lovers buy these limited editions only of the books they've read and admire or do they buy them more as collectible art objects? These books are generally pretty expensive, especially the ones that are signed by authors and illustrators. They can go for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars each, especially when word gets out that a particular edition is almost sold out. 

As for myself, partially because my available shelf space is nil, I can't imagine buying a book I already know deep down in my heart I won't be reading - or at least aspiring to read. But out of curiosity, I recently joined a Facebook group called "Fans of the Folio Society" because the pictures being posted there are so beautiful. The group is extremely active and friendly, and I've really enjoyed my two weeks there looking at the pictures and learning about the books and the mindset of those who love them so much. 

I even came home with my first Folio Society book, one appropriately enough titled First Folio. It is a collection of the forwards to 15 of the First Folio books published in the 2000s, and a few of the forwards are written by favorites of mine such as Colm Tóibín, A.S. Byatt, Peter Ackroyd, Jonathan Coe, and Julian Barnes.It is my understanding from the group I mentioned that the book was a Folio Society giveaway to subscribers back in 2008 when it was published. And, believe it or not, I enjoy reading book forwards and never skip over them, so I do "aspire" to read this one someday. (And it helped that it only cost five dollars.)

I'm not exactly hooked on the idea of collecting this type of book, but I'm intrigued enough to consider adding a few, especially if I can find them in used-book bookstores. I own three others of the type, all three having been signed (Margaret Atwood, E.L. Doctorow, and William Styron), already and I find something especially nice about handling such high quality books every once in a while. But every one of these I would place on a shelf would mean another book being placed out of sight, and I struggle with that enough already.

So how about it? Do you collect books as objects, pieces of art, or only as reading material? 

Oxford University's Ten-Minute Book Club

 

As someone who has never been a member of a book club, even an online one, I'm intrigued by Oxford University's recent announcement about its new "Ten-Minute Book Club." The announcement on the university's website says that the club is especially for readers "short on time and low on energy." Well, these days I have a whole lot of time on my hands, but not nearly enough energy to use all that time either wisely or productively, so I'm pretty sure I qualify for membership.

Starting this week, and every week until October, a ten-minute literary extract will be released by the project team, led by Dr Alexandra Paddock, Professor Kirsten Shepherd-Barr and Dr Erica Lombard.  These will be from a wide selection of genres, including novels, essays, poetry and short stories. Each will be accompanied by a short introduction (in text, video or audio format) by an Oxford academic suggesting themes or contexts and suggestions for further reading - with a free link to the full text. 

[...]

Dr Paddock added, ‘We have designed Ten-Minute Book Club as a DIY collection of readings to be enjoyed alone or to spark discussion with family, friends, colleagues or anyone else…We chose a mixture of classic well-known literature and outstanding works which deserve more prominence, mostly from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.’

In a definite nod to the times we live in, the book club's first  selection is 1903's The Soul of Black Folks by W.E.B. Du Bois. If I read the announcement correctly, all the featured books, with one exception, are out of copyright and will be available for free downloads via Project Gutenberg. The club began last week, so in addition to Du Bois's book, a long poem called "The Royal Ascetic and the Hind," by Calcutta poet Toru Dutt is also up for reading and discussion.

I confess again to be poetry-illiterate, so I'm going to go with the selection from The Soul of Black Folks and wait for next week's selection. Take a look.

The Death Row Book Club

 

"Books for me are like a nice warm blanket on a cool day."

This 27-minute audio broadcast was posted to the BBC website on August 3, 2020. If I'm reading the note attached there correctly, this will be available for "over one year." I'm posting the link because I find it to be moving and inspirational in so, so many ways.

"The Death Row Book Club" is narrated by Anthony Ray Hinton, an Alabama man who was convicted of the months-apart murders of two fast food restaurant managers in 1985. Hinton ended up spending 28 years on death row before his conviction was overturned because it was so obviously built on a singe piece of faulty evidence. 

So how did the man remain sane after spending three decades in prison? Simple...he started a book club for himself and six other inmates. Hinton knew that a person can "go to California" in the pages of a book, and he wanted to share his insight and way of coping with his fellow inmates. Hinton is the only surviving member of his original death row book club group - five were eventually executed and the sixth died in prison.

This is a truly excellent testament to the power of faith, humanity, and yes, even to the power of reading the right books. Don't miss it.

Silent Book Clubs

It tuns out that the new thing among avid Canadian readers is something called a Silent Book Club – although some have taken to calling them Book Clubs for Introverts.  So how does a silent book club differ from a traditional book club?  As it turns out, in a whole bunch of ways. 

It will probably not surprise any of you to learn that I have never been a member of a formal book club because very few men ever have, really. The main reason that men are not generally book club members is that there are relatively few of us in the first place.  And because male readers are generally unlikely to talk out loud about their reading amongst their peers, most of us don’t know enough interested male readers to form a book club even if we wanted to.  

Of course, a man can always join a book club that would otherwise be one hundred percent female, but for a number of reasons that is not as easy (or as wise) to do as it as first sounds.  Women tell me that having a male join their book club would negatively impact the discussions they have at the meetings, that the women would lose their sense of privacy and the feeling that anything and everything can be discussed within the confines of the group.  They say, too, that having even one man in the group would result in them having to read books they have no interest in and trying to make sure that their agreed upon selections do not look silly to their token male.  And I, as the lone male in the group, would most likely find myself often reading from genres that do not appeal to me and feeling guilty about forcing my own selection onto a less than enthusiastic group. It’s not a promising experience for either gender.

But Silent Book Clubs are a different thing altogether. They work this way:

Once or twice a month, members grab whatever they are currently reading and head to a local coffee shop or bar at a set time.  The meetings, which generally last between ninety minutes and two hours, begin with twenty or thirty minutes of having each member describe what he/she is currently reading and what they’ve been reading since everyone last met.  Next comes one hour of reading during which all members agree beforehand there will be no talking whatsoever.  About five minutes prior to the end of the hour, a designated member gives a five-minute -warning so that everyone can finish up at about the same time. Then it’s up to the individual members as to whether they stay around for more book discussion and socializing.  Some stay, some leave. And that’s it; simple as that.

Other than allowing me to finally become a book club member, there are lots of advantages to this type of club:  

·      There is no pressure to read something just because the rest of the group wants to read it.

·      Members will not be intimidated into keeping their opinions to themselves by more dominant or better-spoken members of the group.

·      There are no deadlines to meet.

·      No preparation is required – just grab what you are already reading and go.

·      Read whatever you want to read, no matter the genre or subject matter.

·      Support a local business or two without having to take a turn hosting (and all that entails) a book club meeting in your home.

·      Learn about what others are reading, what is popular and trending, and what new books are coming soon.  Discover books and authors that would have otherwise been missed or overlooked.

·      Force one solid hour of uninterrupted reading into your busy schedule, an hour away from all of life’s distractions.

The meeting guidelines I’ve described were taken from Vicki Ziegler’s interview on the CBCbooks.ca website. That website includes a five-minute audio file from CBC Radio in which Vicki (member and organizer of a Toronto silent book club) explains the concept of silent book clubs and why they are catching on in Canada. 

I like it.  Now if someone in North Houston is listening…

NPR Morning Edition Reads Book Club

Author Hector Tobar

Although I generally find the whole NPR experience to be a little creepy, I think their new "Morning Edition Reads Book Club" has some promise.  The premise is that an author (according to NPR, a well-known one) will choose a book they loved so that all the members of the club can read it together.  Then, in about a month, everyone will get together to have their questions about the book answered.

Personally, I hope the meetings will turn into more of a discussion than into a "less see what the author thinks about everything in the book" session, but that is likely to vary according to the temperament of whichever author chooses the month's book.  

The first session will be kicked off by an Ann Patchett favorite: Deep Down Dark, the story of those 33 Chilean mineworkers who were rescued in 2010 after having been trapped in a mineshaft for 69 days.

Click here for the NPR announcement and details regarding the new club.