Summer 2016 Update

I hope you’re all enjoying this beautiful summer, and I’m looking forward to seeing you at our meeting next Friday at Sherri’s place! We can also officially welcome Tanya to our book club – she is no stranger to most of us, and we’re looking forward to sharing everything that is amazing about “Books, Wine And A Few Good Women” (affectionately known as BookSwine).

Gaining a new member is a perfect time to review how our book club operates, or should operate. Here are 12 things you should know about Books, Wine and a Few Good Women:

1. We try not to be too rigid, but the basic idea is that we take turns choosing a book to discuss, and also hosting the meeting at which our choice is discussed. The order for our upcoming meetings is (with room for switching, of course): Sherri, Lois, Joanna, Julia, Elsa, Hannah, Rachel, Sue, Tara. Normally a new member would be inserted at the end of this order (i.e. before Sherri’s next turn), and there is also room to add Patti and Sarah back into the rotation if they are in a position to become active members.
2. You are expected to let us know your book choice at the meeting before yours, which means you probably need to start thinking about it two meetings back. (For example, given the order above in point #1, I would start thinking about book choices after Hannah’s meeting and present my choice at Rachel’s meeting.) When choosing a book, please look into its availability at the library (HPL and BPL if possible), and how recently it was published. Many members, myself included, are trying to cut back on book purchases so it’s helpful if it is not a new release (especially not so new that it is only available in hardcover). Please also note: it’s not necessary that you have read the book, but it’s helpful to make sure that the book is not absolutely horrible or offensive before making us all read it! Checking ratings and reviews – e.g. on GoodReads, Amazon or Indigo/Chapters – can be helpful!
3. We tend to meet every 5-7 weeks, on Friday evenings (starting at 8:00). This, and the fact that we are all busy people, also means that you should not pick books that are excessively long.
4. We have experimented with different ways of scheduling meetings over the decade-plus that this book club has been in existence. Our current practice is that the person who is hosting the next meeting sends out a Doodle poll immediately after the meeting of their Big Reveal (where they tell us which book they picked – I don’t want Tanya thinking we are revealing anything else!). The Doodle poll should give the members a few Friday evening dates that would work for the host. After every member looks at her personal calendar and replies (promptly, of course!), the host picks the date preferred by most and sends out an email to let everyone know. This email should also include the title and author of the book, for the benefit of members who weren’t at the previous meeting, and others who can’t remember the Big Reveal!
5. The host is responsible for hosting all of us lovely women, which seems obvious. If, however, you can’t host “your” meeting because of lack of space or for any other reason, there are many others who would be happy to host while you lead – just let us know! Usually the leader sends out a reminder email around a week before her meeting.
6. The host is also responsible for leading the meeting. We haven’t been too official about this lately, but I think that we do need to step it up a bit, because I find that with so many members – some of whom have not read the book – it is very easy to get sidetracked. The leader should consider sending out some thought-provoking discussion questions, or at least bring a list of discussion questions/topics to the meeting to assist her in guiding the discussion. (Side-note: sometimes we all hate the book, which often makes for a great discussion! Don’t take it personally … unless you wrote the book – that would be awkward!)
7. The other members are responsible for:
• reading the book – while it is understandable that circumstances sometimes arise that prevent us from finishing the book, this should be the exception rather than the rule;
• attending the meeting – especially if you committed to attending by indicating your availability on the date that ended up being chosen by the host. Please put the meeting dates into your calendar like you would any other important event that you have committed to, so that you can avoid double-booking and also make whatever arrangements are necessary in order for you to attend (e.g. child care). Unavoidable last-minute conflicts do of course arise, but cancelling a few days before the meeting because you just realized that you double-booked is inconsiderate to others who kept the meeting date clear and made our meeting their priority;
• having an opinion on the book;
• being prepared (possibly by looking up discussion questions online; having thought about the book’s themes, characters, writing style; bookmarking specific quotes that you found interesting, etc.); and
• not engaging in side conversations out of respect for the leader and the person who is speaking, because …
8. There will be plenty of time to catch up after we are done discussing the book! Don’t worry, we always end up just socializing and chatting about many things that are completely unrelated to the book we are discussing, and that is an important part of who we are as a book club! (Interestingly, the conversations sometimes veer back to the book and we start all over again … or we discuss other books, or recommend books we’ve read!) The goal is to try to discuss the book together in earnest when we are discussing the book, and leave the side conversations and unrelated chatting until later.
9. At some point towards the end of the meeting, it is time for The Big Reveal. Some of us like to make the members choose between two or three books, some of us have chosen one of a few (or many!) books but tell us about all the books they ended up rejecting (great for our want-to-read lists!), and the most decisive of us just present the one book. All approaches are fine (assuming you have checked that all the books we are considering pass the availability test).
10. We also have a closed Facebook group and a private blog, because we’re exclusive like that. If you are reading this, you have obviously found our blog!
11. Speaking of the blog … anyone want to write a book review? Anyone?? We’d love to hear from you if you would like to contribute to the blog!
12. I can’t send out a list of guiding principles or whatever this list is, and not mention the best thing ever: our annual weekend getaways! We have made an annual tradition of renting a cottage and spending a weekend together (usually in the fall, but our most recent getaway was in January) to eat delicious foods (delicious doesn’t even begin to describe the food we make for each other!), enjoy lots of coffee and an extra glass of wine or two, spend some time outdoors, play games, read, knit, talk, talk, talk some more, and of course have a book club meeting! Now I am getting really excited about planning another getaway – let’s do it!!