Customer Reviews

The Reading Group Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Start Your Own Book Club

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So... you know you love reading, you want a good excuse to get together with others who love to read and you think you'll start a book club. Great - read this book! Not only does Jacobsohn cover what you'd expect (like providing a multitude of suggested reading lists) but she covers the issues you may not think of immediately - like acknowledging that people are likely to relate their reading to personal experiences in their lives and making sure that everyone in your reading group understands the importance of keeping confidences. My only criticism - not much attention paid to the growing phenomenon of online book clubs.

This book is not only a concise, step-by-step guide to forming a book group but also is written in a style that is sweet, funny and entertaining to read. Ms Jacobsohn informs the reader of her recommendations and past experiences but provides options and ideas that might work for others. Booklists, administrative details, recipes and "stories" of other book groups give much guidance. The excellent design of the book and the style in which it is written enables quick and easy reference upon occasion.

Jacobsohn has written a wonderful guide for anyone interested in starting a reading group. Jacobsohn seems to have thought of everything one would need to prepare and think about before beginning a group. She gives helpful check off lists to keep the mechanics of the group running. This book appealed to me because of the easy to read style in which it was written and the many comments from members of the several reading book clubs that Jacobsohn has been involved with. I especially liked the recipes she includes.

I have been wanting to organize a book club for so long and I am finally going to realize my dream on April 20th when my group meets for the first time. We are just a bunch of young single adult women. Our first book club choice is ANNE OF GREEN GABLES and I can see that we will have a lot to talk about. Rachel's book was very easy to understand and very helpful. If the club works as good as expected, I have to personally send Rachel a message.

There are so many things I wanted to do in my lifetime. Reading particular books and discussing them has always been toward the top of my list. When I was in the classroom as an English teacher, I had classrooms of students with whom and where I could fulfill this gripping need. Although I could stir interest, even excitement, getting students to sustain interest was more difficult. Was I one of the ones to discuss a book to death? For some, probably yes. I know others were profoundly effected by what they read for my class.

As an elementary/middle school librarian, I can easily promote picture books, informational books about animals, military aircraft (many fathers are stationed at our local air base), medieval subjects, any war, saints (we are a Catholic school). However, I miss discussing books. The closest experience comes here on Amazon, where I find new books to read all the time. That activity was sharply curtailed when the new ranking system came in and not only discouraged, but pretty much disabled Amazon Friends.

So what to do? I found on one of my shelves Rachel W. Jacobsohn's book, "The Reading Group Handbook," considered the bible of reading group groundwork. I tried to start a reading club with teachers at my school, but actually, I have discovered over the years, teachers, even English teachers, are not rabid, voracious readers. I am speaking very generally.

"Finding pleasurable and challenging material, plus finding compatible people with whom to discuss it" (77) are the magical components of a successful group. Rachel outlines what types of literature that she considers: forms (novel, drama, etc.), genres (biography, historical fiction, westerns, etc.), classics vs contemporary, prizewinners, bestsellers, and how she chooses, as well as how groups across the country select their reading list.

Rachel begins her manual by defining the meaning of books and libraries and their profound impact on our lives. She works through the nuts and bolts of establishing a group, the types that will show up and how to handle those who detract or dominate, and how to keep them happy (food and actual recipes).

But the nitty-gritty is the discussion itself: types and possible content. She introduces concepts new to me, such as the law of physics, e.g. action/reaction as integral in so many stories, catalysts, repulsion/attraction. Or the law of design in music and mathematics. A carefully orchestrated novel like "The Counterlife" by Philip Roth is a "superb sympony" (131).

Of course, the lists of favorite books, both in her groups and those supplied by others, comprise the second important aspect of a successful book club. One-third of her book is devoted to all kinds: Pulitzer-Prize winners (to that I would add books by Nobel Prize winners in literature), 50 Novels to Help Raise Your Moral Consciousness, Science Fiction, Foundations of Civilization, Midlife Readings, Young Adult/Challenging, U.S. Regional Writers (most groups include at least one area writer), and Banned Books, for a sampling. Yet more: a glossary of literary terms, sources of literary criticism, and syllabi from reading groups across the country.

Even if you never plan to develop a reading group, this book can be your own personal guide to expanding your reading life. The two chapters that really spoke to me were 10 (What Do We Really Talk About?) and 11 (Empowerment). "The art of reading demands courage. In reading we challenge our belief system and activate a vulnerability to personal change....If you do not want to change, don't read--or read only the same old stuff that has you stagnating in a puddle of your own beliefs" (136).