I am currently back home in Bahrain, and I have searched for a book club in my area
for a few weeks, until I found one with seven members who meet once a week to discuss
American classics, particularly works of fiction.
I found the group on expatriates.com, the equivalent of craigslist.com minus the
violence. I responded to the ad which called for book club members for a fiction club and on the same day I received a meet and greet invitation for the following week, after I answered a survey sheet with questions about my interests and basic information.
The leader of the group spoke to me the next week before the meet and greet to tell me about the club and present members. Mr. H said that he loves literature and his goal is to host a book club that leads to intellectual discussions. He was thrilled to know that I am an English major graduate as well.
I met the rest of the members (six of them) that week. They were three women and three men. We talked about ourselves first to break the ice, and found out that we are all united by our love for literature and classic reads, therefore we decided to do three months of American literature (fiction) reads, followed by three of English literature (fiction), then Arabic literature (fiction) and the rest of the year will be other literature (fiction). The decision was unanimous as all members love fiction the most and are bilingual in English and Arabic.
For the selection of our first book, all of us had to nominate a title by writing on a piece of paper, folding it and adding it to the basket. I nominated The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck. The leader of the group picked one nomination from the basket, and it was the Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway. Most of us found that to be funny because we already had read that novel and had written papers about it in our undergrad years.
We assigned the reading speed to one book per month, so we can enter deep discussions and learn about the authors as well. Therefore we met the following week to discuss chapters one through four.
We started the discussion by talking about Hemingway first, his life and other publication, then we started discussing the book. It was interesting to see how each member understood the text, and how some members caught interesting little details that are mentioned casually in the novel, however if noticed they compliment the big picture. Some of the details were related to symbolism, and Hemingway's writing style is so simple that these details can be overlooked.
The book club sessions are scheduled for an hour, but we often exceeded the time with discussions. We meet at coffee shops around town on the same day (Tuesday) and same time (6 pm).
This is not my first book club experience but by far this is the best due to the bilingual
capacity of participants which makes the club versatile. I will keep on attending those book
club sessions, and I also intend on hosting my own at my place in the future!
I found the group on expatriates.com, the equivalent of craigslist.com minus the
violence. I responded to the ad which called for book club members for a fiction club and on the same day I received a meet and greet invitation for the following week, after I answered a survey sheet with questions about my interests and basic information.
The leader of the group spoke to me the next week before the meet and greet to tell me about the club and present members. Mr. H said that he loves literature and his goal is to host a book club that leads to intellectual discussions. He was thrilled to know that I am an English major graduate as well.
I met the rest of the members (six of them) that week. They were three women and three men. We talked about ourselves first to break the ice, and found out that we are all united by our love for literature and classic reads, therefore we decided to do three months of American literature (fiction) reads, followed by three of English literature (fiction), then Arabic literature (fiction) and the rest of the year will be other literature (fiction). The decision was unanimous as all members love fiction the most and are bilingual in English and Arabic.
For the selection of our first book, all of us had to nominate a title by writing on a piece of paper, folding it and adding it to the basket. I nominated The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck. The leader of the group picked one nomination from the basket, and it was the Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway. Most of us found that to be funny because we already had read that novel and had written papers about it in our undergrad years.
We assigned the reading speed to one book per month, so we can enter deep discussions and learn about the authors as well. Therefore we met the following week to discuss chapters one through four.
We started the discussion by talking about Hemingway first, his life and other publication, then we started discussing the book. It was interesting to see how each member understood the text, and how some members caught interesting little details that are mentioned casually in the novel, however if noticed they compliment the big picture. Some of the details were related to symbolism, and Hemingway's writing style is so simple that these details can be overlooked.
The book club sessions are scheduled for an hour, but we often exceeded the time with discussions. We meet at coffee shops around town on the same day (Tuesday) and same time (6 pm).
Your group sounds fascinating. With the language and cultural differences, you will certainly have different interpretations of the texts. Since your group is so small you will get to know one another well.
ReplyDeleteIs there an interest in exploring Arabic fiction, or will you stick with American fiction?
ReplyDeleteHow awesome that through our assignment you actually started your own book club. The group I observed also has their meetings weekly over the period of a month. I think this is a great amount of time of make sure that everyone has a chance to read the book, but it will be especially important reading some of the more complicated novels that your group has decided to read. Good luck with the new group.
ReplyDelete