Don’t judge a book club by its cover — it’s not all wine and whining!
I work for a large library in Nottinghamshire where we have four thriving reading groups (Mail), two reading different genres and two reading crime fiction. we don’t meet over a glass of wine for a gossip and a feminist rant about how awful men are: that idea is a middle-class stereotype. Perhaps it’s because we meet in a library but, rather than wine, we share a cup of coffee or tea and a biscuit. The groups consist mostly of women, but we have a couple of men to balance it out. No one dissects the chosen book as if it’s a question in an oxbridge entrance exam. People tend to discuss broader aspects of the plot, characters and style rather than the minutiae. The idea is to give some thought as to why you may like or dislike it, which can help you decide what to read next. we have our most lively debates when half loved the book and the rest hated it. As the person who orders the books, I’m conscious of the need to provide a variety of authors, but I don’t expect anyone to continue with a book they dislike or are offended by. More often, I find people say they would never have picked the book themselves but loved it and would like to read more by that author. The purpose of joining a group is to broaden one’s horizons. reading is a solitary experience, but who hasn’t read a great book and wanted to discuss it? when I read Lionel Shriver’s we Need To Talk About kevin, the twist left me needing to talk to someone who’d read it. To have moved on without sharing my feelings would have left me frustrated. Some go to the groups to make friends, some may be looking after an elderly relative and are in need of an hour to themselves, and others just love sharing a passion for reading. one of our groups has met for 15 years — the members weren’t friends originally but are now. This must be an endorsement.
PAULINE WALKER, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Notts.