Week Nine Book Club Experience

Megan Kammeyer

Professor Erin Cataldi

LIS S524

9 Mar 2018

Book Club Experience at the Hessen Cassel Branch of the Allen County Public Library

            For this assignment, I observed the “Novel Ideas Book Club” event at the Hessen Cassel Branch of the Allen County Public Library on February 13, 2018. The event involved a discussion about The Nest, by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney. I did not have the desire or the time to read the book, although I did glance through reviews on the Goodreads website for The Nest. So, I mostly observed the conversation, spoke a small amount of comments, and asked a few questions in relation to the discussion or towards other aspects of the conversation.

            The leader of the book club was a librarian from the Hessen Cassel Branch, who was named Edith. There were also five other individuals besides Edith and myself at the meeting. These individuals were: Bob, Betty Yoder, Sue Kienzle, Sue, and Joan. These individuals were additionally over fifty years of age.

            Edith began the discussion by asking: “How did you like the book?”. Edith then allowed the attendees to respond first to the question. The leader also attempted to answer questions or comments from the group by giving out explanations. Specifically, Edith voiced an explanation to one of Joan’s arguments or discussions at one point during the book club event. The leader additionally tried answering questions for the group from her list of questions about The Nest at the end of the discussion. However, this action was after almost everyone had said their opinions and thoughts on the novel’s content, so the leader was being quite respectful. In addition, instead of primarily utilizing questions to generate discussion, Edith often used informal comments about certain aspects of the novel to create conversation among the group’s members.

            Overall, Edith’s involvement as a leader in the discussion of the book club was fairly limited and brief. She seemed to operate as a guiding force within the group, as opposed to an actual leader. So, without much involvement from the group’s leader, individuals within the group frequently took turns. However, while most of the group’s individuals were polite enough to take turns at times, some individuals tended to dominate the discussion and talked for longer periods of time. Also, the leader permitted the group’s attendees to respond first to any direct question that she offered to the group.

            The leader asked at least three open-ended questions. She asked the group certain questions, such as: “How did you like the book?”, “Anyone have anything else?”, and “Does anyone want to talk about the place, the setting?”. However, besides these specific questions, there were actually not many direct questions in the group’s conversation. The group’s leader attempted to check through any questions on her list that needed to be addressed at the end of the conversation, but she didn’t really ask the questions on the list to the group. Also, there were no questions that required a positive or negative answer, such as saying, “yes” or “no”.

            Most or all of the group’s members participated in the conversation, although Bob gave brief comments and talked the least. Generally, the group participated in the discussion by giving comments that were related to the subject of the event’s book. Specifically, Joan was quite talkative and delivered in-depth details of her experiences of the book to the group and related the novel to her own life. She discussed that the book’s content about family issues over the funding in a trust was plausible, since she had experienced or knew about a trust situation where family members were shafted. Also, Joan related to the book’s location on the East Coast, since she was from the East Coast of the United States. In addition, Betty believed that the book was true to real life, and she said that she had laughed at a section on chapter forty-two of the book. Also, there was at least a bit of discussion about the book’s theme about wealth.

            In terms of active participation, Joan was the most vocal and dominating of the group. Sue Kienzle and the other person named, “Sue”, also gave some lengthy content to the discussion. So, Joan and both of the individuals, who were named “Sue”, tended to swoop in and steal some of the spotlight from other members of the group. The other individuals of the group also based their discussions on comments and insights that Joan and the two individuals, who were named, “Sue”, had formed during the event.   

            The atmosphere of the discussion was very analytical. Also, the discussion was friendly, talkative, productive, and laidback. In general, the discussion did not focus on individuals debating the content of the book in an overly obsessive manner. The discussion occurred at the Hessen Cassel Branch of the Allen County Public Library; the discussion took place specifically at the large meeting room of the library, which was located near the library’s front entrance.

            There was a diverse amount of drinks provided for the event. The leader had a pitcher of hot water on a small table or cart. There were tea pouches in small containers or boxes in a medium-sized box next to the pitcher. The types of tea included: herbal tea, black tea, and a specific kind of Celestial Seasonings tea. A specific example of tea present at the meeting was mint tea. There were mugs supplied to hold the hot water with the tea pouches. In addition, the event also provided some snacks for the group. There was a box of donuts at the middle of the table, and there were plates and napkins provided for the donuts.

            The “Novel Ideas Book Club” typically discussed best sellers from previous years, or the group occasionally discussed the content of classic books. The book club did not discuss the books from the most recent best sellers, since it took time for the Allen County Public Library to receive copies of novels from the current year’s best seller list. The book club would meet once a month to discuss the best sellers from prior years. However, the book club has attempted to create a special event during the month of December for each year. During the month of December, each member of the group would bring and discuss a single title that the person has read earlier in the year. This event is called, “Reader’s Choice”.