Book Club Experience

The Fulton County Public Library hosts Book, Bagel, and Brew on the first Monday of the month at 10:15am in one of the library’s meeting rooms. (Brew refers to coffee, not beer.) I attended the March meeting on March 2, 2015. Becky, Assistant Director/Children’s Librarian, runs the book club. I had told her I was planning on attending a week or two before the actual meeting; I didn’t want her to be caught off guard. The book chosen for this meeting was Fannie Flagg’s The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion. I have not read this book, so I was strictly an observer.

I arrived at the meeting about ten minutes early. The members were trickling in. While everyone was arriving, chitchat ensued. One woman has a Kindle and was discussing the pros. She likes the portability and the ability to have multiple books in her purse without having to haul them around. Another woman was talking about her past experience as a teacher. Another attendee’s cute shoes was a topic of conversation. From my listening, I could tell the meeting would be rather casual and not too serious.

Of the thirteen attendees, all were women over 55. Many of the members were retired professional women. Coffee, milk, and cake were provided by Becky. She also made a whole wheat coffee cake with walnuts that was quite tasty.

Becky began the meeting by introducing me to the group. They were super friendly and very welcoming. She announced some of the programs that are occurring at the library during March and April. An attendee updated the group on the health of a couple of mutual acquaintances. Becky also brought copies of the next book for the April meeting: James Patterson’s Cross My Heart. The book club seems to read different genres and doesn’t stick to just one. Nonfiction, memoirs, mysteries, and Oprah’s Book Club picks have all been represented in this club’s selections.

I have never been a part of a book club, so I was not sure what to expect. Becky moderated the discussion; she came prepared with a list of discussion questions. Having a list helped move the discussion along. If one question was not attracting much conversation, Becky moved on down the list.

Many of the members offered some interesting perspectives on the book. One woman listened to the Book on CD version and thought one of the female characters was male because of her strong personality. Another question brought up courage. The group agreed that there are different types of courage, and courage is sometimes quiet and takes time. Turtles and skunks were used as an analogy: turtles pull in their heads and think things over, skunks just spray.

I was unfamiliar with the WASPs of World War II. WASP stands for Women Airforce Service Pilots. This plot point created much discussion. One women even brought in a book that was a first-hand account written by one of the WASPs from Fort Wayne, Girls Can't Be Pilots: An Aerobiography by Margaret J. Ringenberg. She also brought additional information about a poem that is featured in Flagg’s book.

From the questions and discussion, family and relationships are heavily featured in the book. The questions that had more of a personal slant elicited strong emotions. Some tears were shed. The idea of friends being family sparked some great conversation. A heritage question was interesting because one woman was from Germany. Becky talked about her German heritage. A few women said they don’t know much about their heritage and they don’t need to, they are American.

The conversation about the book wrapped up with the theme of kindness. As Becky said, “When in doubt, do the kind thing.”

Overall, there didn’t seem to be anyone who hogged the limelight. Becky made sure to allow everyone a chance to speak and she didn’t hurry or rush the questions. She would let a question settle to see if anyone else would chime in before she did. The conversation followed a natural flow. The discussion that followed some of the questions was allowed to go on for a bit, while other questions were passed over when no one seemed too interested in it. Only one or two questions were yes or no questions, and they were always followed by a more open-ended question.

As the meeting was wrapping up, one of the attendees told me that they all had been attending the book club for many years and that they genuinely care about each other. The funny thing is, the woman didn’t even have to tell me that; I really got the sense that this group truly cared for each other and already had it written down in my notes. 

Attending this book club was a really interesting experience and was different than I expected. The group was not serious and quite lighthearted. Some of the ladies were pretty funny. One woman admitted she hadn’t finished the book because she just got back from Florida.

I enjoyed observing this meeting. The only problem I had was the fact that I haven’t read the book. The discussion made it sound really interesting; all of the attendees seemed to really enjoy the book. Once life slows down a bit, I might have to check out the book.