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In the summer 1994 issue of the Southern Register, the Center for the Study of Southern Culture requested book clubs and reading groups from across the country to respond to a questionnaire and provide anecdotes, histories, and written experiences about their organizations. Since that time, the Center has received information from over 20 book and study clubs all from different locations possessing members with various backgrounds, yet with similar goals and objectives for their reading groups.
Responses arrived from various cities including Montgomery, Alabama, New York City, Washington, D.C., Wilmington, North Carolina, Memphis, Tennessee, Jackson, Mississippi, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Fairport, New York, and from group members representing a multitude of different backgrounds and occupations. The New York City book club, for example, contains an opera singer turned lawyer, a marketing exec, a creative writing teacher, a professional nanny, three librarians, a saleswoman of financial advertising, a professional volunteer for a hospital, a retired secretary, a surgeon s wife, and a retired editor of a scientific publication.
One of the most interesting observations about the groups that responded is the fact that 14 of them are composed entirely of women. Only two are restricted solely to men, and just a few of the groups allow both men and women. The women s groups often contain a large number of retirees, housewives, mothers, teachers, and librarians, and they have similar reasons for joining an all-female group. Many mothers at home with small children complain of a lack of intellectual stimulation. Book clubs provide them with a chance to get out of the house, expand their minds, and have intelligent conversations with other adults. One 40-year-old, ex-librarian, and now an at-home mother in the Fairport Library Group in New York says, The book discussion groups have become a vital part of my intellectual life: truthfully, they are almost the WHOLE of my intellectual life.
The agenda for meetings generally consists of a discussion of the assigned readings as well as time for socializing. Each group as a whole chooses the reading list in most situations. Others have regulated methods of deciding what to read. In the Book Group in New York City, readings are chosen by consensus, but the book selection process often becomes heated. The jockeying for next month s title does not begin until after the hostess for the eve has served supper and the discussion has been completed. Then it is chaos!
Most groups choose to read current fiction although there are some with restricted reading lists like two of the book clubs in Little Rock, Arkansas, who only read works by dead authors. Some groups choose a theme for a year or a few months. The Friday Morning Book Group in Memphis, Tennessee, for example, has an annual theme, which in the past has included Canada, the West, women, biography, China, and Latin America. The Rock Canyon Ward Group in Provo, Utah, periodically reads young adult fiction and nonfiction exposing the mothers and teachers in the group to books popular with their children/students. Other groups elect to read poetry, plays, short stories, or biographies on occasion. This year the Thursday Study Club in Gadsden, Alabama, will review drama from Antigone to Lillian Hellman. Many attempt to have a mix of classics and current fiction on their reading lists. The most popular books read in the recent months by reading groups include The Shipping News, A Thousand Acres, Angle of Repose, Smilla s Sense of Snow, All the Pretty Horses, The English Patient, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Saint Maybe, and Your Blues Ain t Like Mine. Classic titles varied widely from Absalom, Absalom! to Jane Eyre.
When asked why they belong to a book club, respondees overwhelmingly cite a genuine love of books. They also enjoy discussing the works and appreciate the opportunity to read selections not on their normal reading lists. A member of the New York City group expresses another common reason for attending: book club provides intellectual stimulation that I find so lacking in our culture outside of an academic environment. In-depth discussions at book group meetings not only revolve around the readings being reviewed but also on other topics. The club has been a sounding board to our reactions to race, relations, sexual changes, marriages, children, explains a 74-year-old housewife in the Book Club of Montgomery, Alabama. The phrase group therapy is often used when describing discussion topics at book club meetings. A mother and member of the Book Group in Seattle, Washington, admits that it s rare now that we all manage to read a specific book within the time frame our lives are so busy. Perhaps we will refocus on literature in the future when life slows to a more reasonable pace. For now it s more crucial to spend our limited time together discussing the really important stuff.
All respondees favorably reviewed their book clubs. Statements, like the following, from a member of the Lake Lily Literary Society in Maitland, Florida, are common and summarize the high praise attributed to these organizations: I started this group with two other friends and this has been such a successful endeavor. It has succeeded past all my expectations. I am a richer human being because of this group and my reading.
Jennifer Bryant
Elizabeth Hagood is a second-year student in the Southern Studies M.A. program. After completing her degree, she plans to teach in China for a year and then enter a Ph.D. program in creative writing or English.
Bland Whitley is studying Southern literature and history of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A graduate of William and Mary, Bland worked for the Virginia House of Delegates before entering the Southern Studies program.
Jennifer Bryant received her baccalaureate from Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and continues to pursue the study of historic preservation in the Southern Studies M.A. program.
Donald Kartiganer is the Howry Professor of Faulkner Studies at the University of Mississippi.
Raj Betapudi