Book clubs unite readers
At a bed and breakfast outside of Ellwood City, six women were joined by two Irish guests to navigate "The Sea."
The book by John Manville, they said, delves into the bittersweet complexities of several characters, a novel where it is hard to know exactly what is going on until the end.
Among those present at The Wine and Chocolate Book Club meeting were Marie Latagliata of Marion Township, Beaver County, and Marcy Luek of Gibsonia.
When one discussion question seemed to have no clear answer, Latagliata said, "I think that's part of the mystery of the book." But Luek came back: "No, uh-uh, we're supposed to figure it out."
Whether or not they answered that question was beside the point. Like many book lovers, the women joined the club to socialize, learn and keep reading.
In the pursuit of uniting people with similar interests, or simply to make traditional groups more interesting, groups like the Wine and Chocolate Book Club are taking on unique identities.
The Wine and Chocolate Book Club features, of course, chocolate and wine at each meeting. But members also invite speakers and come up with appropriate settings for each book.For "The Sea," member Laurie Licker of Baden, Beaver County, invited her Irish cousin, Mary Hickey, and Hickey's cousin, Eva Rahilly, to help out with cultural references in the book, which is set in Ireland. They gave some background of Ireland's conflict with England and explained some Irish phrases."Any experiences we could give them seemed helpful," said Rahilly. "They really had some tough questions for us."At another of the book club's meetings, the group read a book about a family and their dog. For their discussion, they met with a Labrador breeder.After reading the book "Ahab's Wife" by Sena Jeter Naslund, which is about life near the sea, the group planned to meet on a pontoon boat at Lake Arthur. And after reading a book about a Native American chief, Allen shared with the group pictures from her visit to the Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico.Sue VanArsdale of Lancaster Township said she likes being exposed to new books. "I'm reading books I wouldn't usually pick," she said.The group, which began last year, reads about four books a year. Members said they invited guest speakers to dig a little deeper into subject matter. "It's really worked," Latagliata said.
On a recent snowy Saturday, two sets of mothers and daughters discussed "The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles" by Julie Andrews Edwards. The mother-daughter book club meets near the children's section of the Butler Public Library.Denise Miller of Butler and Sue Johnson of Chicora like connecting with their daughters through young adult literature."I get to share stories with my daughters. … You get their opinions on a good book," Miller said.Her daughters, Deanna, 12, and Dana, 9, and Johnson's daughter, 12-year-old Laurel, describe what they like about each book, the lessons learned and what they think of each character.Questions of morality usually come up. When one character has a chance to betray his friends, Deanna commends him for remaining loyal."Not everybody would do that. He did the right thing," she said.The club is about keeping involved with what the children are reading, and about having fun on a Saturday. After their half-hour discussion, the group makes a craft.Librarian Lori Campbell said she started the group as an experiment and it caught on. "I saw this opportunity to bring families together. I have to say it's been fun," she said.<B>Clubs at home</B>For those who want to start their own book club, the Butler Public Library offers Book Club to Go packets, which include 12 books, a study guide, an author biography, discussion questions and information about the book.With a library card, a group of people can get everything they need to start a club."It was so difficult to get multiple copies of a book without buying a bunch of them. … We thought a book club all ready to go would be such a cool thing to offer," said Nan Gresko, the library director.The packets can be available at any county library.The library hosts several other book clubs in addition to the Book Club to Go packets and the mother-daughter group, Gresko said.
The Asian Reading Group at Slippery Rock University formed in 1992. The group's 20 members, mostly staff and faculty, read about four books each semester.Each book revolves around Eastern culture in some way. Their latest book was "Sky Burial" by Xinran, a nonfiction novel about a Chinese physician who went on a 30-year search of her husband in Tibet.Ailing Chen-Gaffey, a librarian at the university, runs the group. Eva Tsuquiashi-Daddesio, the chair of the modern languages department, is the group's founder."It offers a good window into Asian culture. Not just the novels, but also the discussions. There's a wide spectrum of cultural life experiences that come out of our talks," Chen-Gaffey said. She said many members have been on a trip to an Asian country.George Brown, head of the Asian Studies program at the university, has been a member since 1996. Brown said he likes the club's focus because members care about the books' specific subjects."Almost all the participants have a strong interest in the culture. So we can have focused, coherent discussion, and people make a lot of great points," he said.Like most groups, club members decide on book selections among themselves, and discussions are mostly informal. Members read novels, essays, poetry, mythologies, biographies and other literary genres.Brown said although SRU employees make up the majority of the group, some people from Grove City College and retirees from the Butler area have joined.The Women's Studies Reading Group, another group at the university, reads about six books a year and is made up of mostly university faculty but is open to anyone. The 30-member group is led by Sharon Sykora, a political-science professor."We read things by women or about women. We're all interested in the same issues," said Sykora, who has been a member since the group began more than 15 years ago."I need to have stories in my life, but this is different from the books I read for work. It provides that respite, and it's almost always something I can use in class or in some way," she said.Sykora is also starting a community book club in Slippery Rock at the Ginger Hill Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Slippery Rock. "I think it's important to have that active, community-based book group," she said
At Northern Tier Regional Libraries, which has sites in Pine and Richland townships, anyone can sign up to participate in online book clubs. Through the program, readers get a few pages e-mailed to them each day to see if they like the book.While it is not exactly a book club, it is the kind of program that encourages joining clubs. It is a national program the library subscribed to in 2002, said Diane Illis, the library communications specialist."It's for people who don't have the time for choosing books," she said.The library also offers a traditional book club that has been meeting for more than 25 years. The club brings about a dozen people to each meeting.When the group began, Illis said the age range for members was 25 to 83 years old. Now the range is from 40 to 60 years old.The club's director, Marian Linn, said mostly women attend the club, and the discussions are interesting."It's a free exchange of ideas. There are times I have to bring them back to the book, because we get off on tangents. But everything we talk about, it's almost group therapy," said Linn.
