It happens—sometimes the club doesn't go for the
selection. But, in sport, they usually make the meeting to discuss their
aversion. Dislike may even fuel attendance.
"Some of our best discussions result from a
book no one likes. Some labor through and some give up reading the
book. We talk about what we did not like about it. Sometimes it's the
characters and sometimes the plot," said Ann Young, who coordinates the
book club at Gardner's Heywood Library.
Fiction isn't a favorite with evening book group
members at Thayer Memorial Library, says the library's Karen Silverthorn.
"However, we try to read fiction one
month and non-fiction the next, so that everyone gets a chance to read both.
Those who don't like fiction will sit rather quietly when we discuss the book,
unless they voice their negative thoughts or get drawn into the conversation by
the comments others make."
Since members select the book from a
favorites list of recommendations, they respect another's selection. "We
vote on the books for the next year without knowing who recommended the titles,"
Silverthorn said. "No one complains
about book choices because we all get to have our say, one way or another."
At Bannister Book Club in Brookfield,
members also suggest reading choices. "We have enough titles to sort
through for the next two years or more," said Brenda Metterville. Members
still attend if they don't like the book. "We've had, at the most, three
members at a time dislike the
book." They may not finish it, she said, but they have an opinion. Everyone
is vocal about what they like and don't like, and we don't have any one person
who dominates the group, which is a huge plus." When a member insists that
his or her point of view is the correct one, conversation is definitely
stifled.
Joan Killough-Miller of the N.O.W. Women's Issues
group admits that she suggested "the last clunker" to her Worcester group
(Meg Wolitzer’s “Belzhar").
"I admitted right off that I
liked the book the first time around, but not so much on the second reading.
That made it easier for everyone to say what they didn’t like," she said. "Still,
our members are gentle on each other, overall, and they seem to find some good
in all of our selections. They also generally finish the book, although
sometimes they’re not done by the night of the meeting.
"We do have a rule that
you have to have actually read a
book before you suggest it, and not just have seen it on the shelf, or read
another book by that author."
Betsy Johnson, coordinator of the Holden group,
chooses books she's pretty certain the group will enjoy—"although some
things are more popular than others. ... I learned long ago, one person's must
read is sometimes another's plus-minus, or worse, so the format we use seems to
function best."
