Book Club Experience

My book club experience did not quite go as planned. I was meant to attend the program as just a regular patron to gauge discussion in that frame. Only about a week before book club night, my colleague who was going to be working at the Reference Desk that evening realized that she had a schedule conflict, and I was the only one available to cover. At this point, the plan was for me to work the desk and zoom into the book club meeting happening two floors down.

…And then Monday afternoon--five hours before the start of the book club--my colleague who hosts book club called in sick, so it fell to me to somehow run book club via zoom from the upstairs desk. So, I set everything up for our book club around 6:30 while trying to make sure that everything else in the building was running smoothly because the Reference Librarian is Person-In-Charge at night. Needless to say, it was a stressful night!

As for what set up looks like, we brew a pot of coffee, provide water, and typically have snacks of some sort--this month it was cookies. I got a zoom meeting going between a staff laptop and the Reference PC. I also printed out multiple copies of the discussion questions that the actual host had prepared. 

Now onto the book club meeting itself:

We had five patrons come to this month’s meeting. There has been a steady decline in attendance which is a little concerning. A lot of our regular patrons skipped this month which seemed strange because the book was Killers of the Flower Moon. I do know that at least one patron had said last month that we’d get a lot more participation if we selected “fluffier” books. Seeing as the book is All the Light We Cannot See, I don’t know if that’s advice we’re planning on taking.

Right away the patrons dominated the conversation with the opening discussion focused on the differences between the book and the movie. As I had not watched the movie, I was content to listen to their thoughts and offer commentary when I could. They felt that without the movie, the book would not have been as popular. I found this interesting because I feel like with fiction novels and their media adaptations, the book usually already has a pretty strong fanbase and following, but it makes sense that nonfiction would need an additional incentive to ‘go viral’ so to speak. Their biggest criticism of the film was that it did not accurately capture the full scope of this story’s tragedy and the mistreatment of the Osage people. I think that’s because the narrative writing in the book does a phenomenal job of setting William Hale and Ernest Burkhart as trustworthy and honorable men, so it is that much more devastating when the case is cracked. Films pull off betrayal very well, but they lose a lot of the nuance and subtlety found in written works.

The other particularly interesting--and almost explosive--discussion was when some of the book club started debating whether or not the crimes and murders were racially motivated. One lady was adamant in arguing that it had nothing to do with race and was entirely concerned with finances and greed. Very quickly another patron disagreed, saying that even if that were true, it would have been much easier for these men to target a marginalized group like the Osage. Thankfully, everyone kept their behaviors in check and the discussion moved on. Still, it was a bit bemusing to me that someone could read about these horrific events and claim that it had nothing to do with race. 

When I eventually went back downstairs to help them wrap up, one of the patrons hung around while I cleaned up. He was disappointed a bit in the group conversation and wanted to hear more about what I thought about the book. We discussed the other tragedy of the story, overshadowed by the true crime, in regards to the calculated efforts of the United States to eradicate indigenous cultures and the loss of language. It is possible that if I had been able to sit in the room and moderate book club, that we would have made it to this conversation in the large group setting, but I am glad at least that this patron was still able to have a meaningful discussion over a topic from the book that he felt was especially important. 

Generally I think book clubs are valuable because each member brings different reading experiences to the conversation and it allows for community building, but there is also an element of frustration for some members who want to have in-depth analytical conversations and intellectual debates. I hosted our book club discussion over Slaughterhouse-Five a few months ago and had to bite my tongue every time they complained about the fact that the plot wasn’t linear and how unenjoyable the book was to read as a result. It was just a tad bit infuriating for me to listen to as someone who has written many many essays about Vonnegut. 

I can’t say I’m in a hurry to host the book club again any time soon, but I’m always willing to help out with it. I’m not sure what books are picked out for the year, but hopefully we can get attendance back up with better promotion of the program and more variety in the books selected!