Book Clubs In America: Why Do We Love Them So Much?

Slate Magazine:

A casual observer of the book-club scene could be fooled into thinking that this summer was a hard one for the nation's leisure readers. Late in spring, Oprah's club shuttered, stranding publishers in what promises to be a long shoal of short print runs and offering the rest of us one literary arbiter fewer to love or hate.

Read the whole story: Slate Magazine

Comments

[John David Redux]

03:39 PM on 08/03/2011

The vast majority of what these people read can't even really be considered books, except in the most fundamental sense, i.e., that they're made of paper, have pages, a spine, a binding, et cetera. Americans read trash, and most of them are obvious about it.

[MSchlagel]

08:05 PM on 08/03/2011

As a librarian, I really dislike the idea that anyone should determine what is trash and what is true literature. I read a fair amount of rubbish and a fair amount of what would be considered classic or literary fiction. It is largely immaterial. I read because that is what I love to do. It is my solace and one person's trash is another's treasure. Telling anyone, American or otherwise, that their reading makes them ignorant is simply too elitist and it damages all the hard work I put into establishing a library that welcomes its patrons and encourages others to use our services. A patron who reads Gossip Girl is just as valuable as a patron who reads Italo Calvino.

[John David Redux]

10:00 PM on 08/03/2011

All "elitism" means is accusing someone else of having standards. God forbid I have standards.

But then again, your job as a librarian isn't to promote the reading of VALUABLE, worthy, timeless literature. It's simply to get people to read. My criticism didn't really apply to children or what librarians are promoting in libraries, but rather what adults seem to find value in. If you want to lead your patrons to believe that their predilections for Harry Potter and "Twilight" are somehow just as good as "War and Peace" or Proust, you're welcome to do so. But don't expect me to take you seriously.

[John David Redux]

06:27 PM on 08/06/2011

Thanks. It certainly is a thankless job. God bless your little librarian souls for pretending like one book is as good as any other. We used to have real librarians.

[josh2082]

11:09 AM on 08/02/2011

My bookclub has been going for about 7 months now.
We read books from Europa editions, great selections from all over the world and we can pick our booklist for the entire year well in advance!

[MSchlagel]

08:07 PM on 08/03/2011

I adore Europa Editions. My only complaint is I have to wait for them to get to eBook status because I’m partially sighted and have problems reading their text. That said; the selection is fabulous. Usually once a month I just lose myself in the website gathering titles to read. I wish I had your book club. The members of my book clubs are lovely people but their reading choices are so boring and generic, I never read the selections.

[dahpunkster]

09:16 PM on 08/01/2011

Sometimes your partner or loved ones don't read and don't want to hear about it ....its nice to have conversations with like minded people about books .