In One for the Books, Joe Queenan has hard words for book clubs:
A few years ago, several people in my town asked if I would like to join a book discussion club. We would vote on a book, read it, convene at the library, discuss it, and then retire to a local brasserie for a few beers. I left town for about six weeks, disconnected my phone, stopped answering e-mails, and told people that I had a weird retinal pigmentation disease that made it impossible for me to read books. Especially books like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
It may be the case that in book clubs where the book is chosen by consensus
The reading experiences that book club members share are not intimate; they are generic. Participants want to connect with other people who feel exactly the same way they do about a book.
Having said that, I have a hard time thinking of a case where one would share intimate reading experiences. I happy to talk about what I have read--perhaps I begin too easily and am too hard to stop--I am happy to lend or recommend books, but I don't see where intimacy could come in.
I find our local book club anodyne. I don't expect anyone to agree with me about books--I would be frequently disappointed if I did. Occasionally we read a book that I enjoy and would not otherwise have thought to read: that is all to the good. Occasionally we read a really bad book: well, I've found some pretty bad ones on my own. Mostly it is a way to get together with some neighbors every couple of months, drink wine, and have dinner.
I do agree with Queenan about the strangeness of the "Questions for Discussion" that one finds in the back of some editions. They savor at best of high school examinations.
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