I’ve been leading a real-life book group for 5 years now and we’ve just read our 50th novel together! During that time it’s become clear that to be a success the book must have some or all of the following qualities:
1) It must divide opinion. This is something that really ignites the discussion and ensures that all (in my case 15-20 group participants per session) can pitch in.
2) There must be strong characterisation whereby a dastardly villain is much more interesting that an saintly heroine.
3) There must be hooks to extraneous discussion – we quite like to digress into related news events or other reading.
Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair ticked (tickled?) all three of those boxes.
Box 1 – Following on from last month’s read Mrs Gaskell’s North and South, it retained the C19th century theme but in an absolutely mind-boggling way for those who hadn’t known what to expect. There were those who failed to complete the course because it was so radically different, those who went along with the ride and enjoyed it and those evangelical converts to Fforde’s wacky universe who now want us to read the whole series! We compromised on that and decided that we’ll take on The Big Over Easy during December – something light and frothy and not too challenging during that time of year when everything lies heavily on the stomach. And they’ll need something light to follow Karen Connelly’s magnificent but emotionally devastating The Lizard Cage.
Box 2 – not one but two dastardly villains. Acheron Hades and Jack Schitt (how can you not smile at that?). Thursday Next, the heroine, not so saintly either.
Box 3 – Fforde’s plot contains a plethora of literary allusions and an alternative ending to Jane Eyre. There are hooks to further conversation on every page. Some obvious allusions, some more obscure but you can be sure that a group of 15 spotted more than I’d clocked in two readings. It was also a good excuse to get out the poetry anthology and “wander lonely as a cloud” with Wordsworth while beating off Poe’s ominous raven. Fforde proving that literature can be fun.
January’s group will be interesting. In 90 minutes we’ll solve the mystery of Humpty Dumpty’s death, deconstruct crime fiction and discuss the etymology of our favourite nursery rhymes. I can’t wait.
I have always wanted to be a part of a face to face group, but it’s never worked out. My work schedule is too unpredictable for me to lead one and the ones that are run around town are at the most inconvenient hours (for me). Someday. I haven’t given up yet!
I have, however, participated in online group reads and would agree with all of your discussion points. I do love a good book discussion!
Couldn’t agree more – the other thing our group also deliberately does is to read totally different things each month … We read the Eyre affair last year funnily enough and everyone loved it – no divisions this time, but it was so different and spun the discussion off onto so many other threads that it was a brilliant choice.
Annabel.
I recently read The Eyre Affair for the first time myself (and loved it!). I’m not sure that I would have picked it as a good book club pick, however. My book club is now sadly defunct, but when it was active we always seemed to do best with books where there was a lot to the book to discuss besides whether or not we liked it. Some of our best discussions were around a book like Disgrace by Coetzee. No villains there, and no heroes either.
I’ve had the Eyre Affair sitting around for far too long- maybe it’s time to start reading it!
I’ve never been a part of a real live book group, but I’ve been in online groups for years. I’ve been amazed at the books I’ve found through the online groups….Being part of these groups helped me find rich and thoughtful books.
I’ve been blessed this year to find not one but TWO (!) face-to-face book groups that are totally engaging. The women in each group are so diverse, and we sometimes have very different opinions of a chosen text (ie: The Time Traveler’s Wife!). I think what I have learned about what makes a good group – no matter what you read – is that it must be a safe zone for each individual to express her feelings without fear of judgment. It can be a hard thing to find, but very worth the wait.
Stacey
http://book-thirty.blogspot.com
ThoughI haven’t made the time to join a book group, I imagine it would be fun. I raced through the Thursday Next series this year, and am similarly saving The Big Over Easy for a light read in the future.
This is a good list. I’m part of a new group – we are on our 3rd book. So far; The Time Traveler’s Wife (Stacey- we also varied in opinion quite a lot!), 12 Books that changed the world, Half of a Yellow Sun, – next month is Lottery by Patricia Wood, and in December we have also opted for light reading, Wicked by Gregory Maguire. My own biggest benefit, I’m reading things I would not necessarily have picked up on my own. Maybe we’ll add the Eyre Affair at the end coming in next summer…sigh – too many books, not enough time.