Members of the CA Reading Society met last week for an organizational meeting to discuss ways to get together and talk about books this spring. The small but enthusiastic group came up with some great ideas to get the most out of the great collection at CA Library. Among several decisions that were made:
Purpose of the Group — A book group can essentially be one of two types; one in which everyone reads the same book and discusses it (like Oprah’s) or one in which everyone reads something different and shares it with everyone else. We liked the idea of the latter — sharing books with the group on a regular basis, letting individual group members choose whatever they would like to read.
We can also use the social networking app LibraryThing to share information about books. CA Library has been uploading the collection to LibraryThing for a few years now (check it out here), and although there aren’t any reviews under the calibrary1 account yet, this would be another place that group members could share insights about the books they read.
A Name — Mr. Bateman indicated he liked the idea of the group being known as a society, like the Dead Poet’s Society or the MIT Literary Society; the term lends an air of sophistication to the group (despite having Mr. Bateman as a member). We decided on the CA Reading Society until somebody comes up with something better.
Stuff To Read — Obviously, CA Library has a great collection to choose from, but Mr. Bateman also shared the opportunity to read Advance Reading Copies, books that are sent out before they go on sale to give reviewers a chance to read them. The library gets about a dozen or so every month, and since they can’t go in the collection, this sounds like a great way to get them used.
Membership — This was our first meeting, so attendance was understandably light. We discussed ways to increase our numbers, including sending personal invites to known readers at the Academy (Mr. Bateman will take care of this). We also hoped that once the group has a more definitive meeting schedule, we’ll be able to get more committed members, which leads us to…
A More Definitive Meeting Schedule — With weekly seeming too much and monthly seeming too little, a bi-weekly meeting seemed the way to go. Thursdays after school (at 2:30) are workable, so we’ll see how that works out every other week.
Food and Beverages — It was decided that food and drinks would make these meetings a lot better (duh!); Mr. Bateman will take care of the catering…
The CA Reading Society is likely the least exclusive club on the planet; all you have to do is show up!