Book Club Experience

        I attended a book club that I am already part of, but is very new. We have only had three meetings. One of my old coworkers (will refer to as Amanda) started the book club and is considered the leader. She started this group in order to have a no-judgment, comfortable environment for readers to come together and try out new genres. The book club is called The Spine Breakers, and I will refer to it as that throughout the assignment. We meet once a month, at the end of the month, in person. Aside from that, we have a Discord server where we chat pretty much daily about what we are reading outside of The Spine Breakers, any book suggestions, funny book videos from the internet, or discussing the current book of the month (BOTM). As mentioned prior, Amanda is the one who leads the meetings and discord server. She is constantly working on the administrative portion of the book club, and regularly touches base about everybody’s schedules, sending out reminders, and adding new channels to the Spine Breakers’ Discord server. In terms of in-person meetings, she will lead the beginning of the meeting and may have questions to lead the group, but it is also okay if someone just begins a discussion regarding the BOTM. At our first meeting, Amanda brought packets for everyone that she created to help us document our reading experience, if we so choose. Inside the packet, there are places for summaries, a spot for your favorite quote, rating scales, and more. After the first meeting, those who weren’t as interested sort of weeded themselves out, so now everyone that comes actively participates and shares their thoughts. There are definitely a few people in the group that enjoy being heard, and will gladly talk over other people that are speaking. It has been a pet peeve of mine already within the group, but I remind myself that we only meet in person once a month and that I really enjoy everything else about the club. The first meeting took place at Amanda's house, but since then, we have tried other places around town including a local coffee shop and a University library. Amanda’s house ended up being a little small for everyone to sit comfortably, and the coffee shop ended up being the same way. The University library has been the best location thus far because the meeting took place in the basement where most people don’t go. It also has plenty of big, comfy chairs for everyone. Drinks are not provided at the meetings, but usually at least one person brings some kind of dessert for everyone to try. As for our BOTM, we each typically suggest a book and then at the meeting we go around drawing slips from a small black cauldron until only one is left and that is the book we read. We haven’t done any themes yet, so anything thus far has been a variety of genres. At the two previous meetings, we decided to pick a bonus book for those that would be interested in reading a smut book. This has seemed to be the most fair way of picking the BOTM. I have really enjoyed the experience thus far. It has gotten me reading some books that I wouldn’t have initially picked up on my own.