Book groups: a chance
to read and share

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

Welcome to winter in the Puget Sound, where it’s snowing in the mountains, raining just about everywhere else and dark before you park your car in the garage after a day’s work.

Fortunately, it doesn’t need to be sunny and 75 degrees for you to enjoy a good book. And with the many book discussion groups and resources available locally or online, you can add to that enjoyment by sharing your experience with others.

Snohomish County Business Journal/ KIMBERLY HILDEN Mary Kay Sneeringer’s store, the Edmonds Bookshop, offers two book discussion meetings monthly. Sneeringer herself is a member of three book discussion groups and says she enjoys them because they give her other people’s views on the books she reads.

“Any time you get a bunch of people together to talk about what they liked and didn’t like about a book, it’s going to get exciting,” said Terry Beck, adult/teen services manager for Sno-Isle Libraries.

The library system, which operates a network of 20 libraries across Snohomish and Island counties, holds monthly book discussion groups at libraries from Brier to Darrington, said Mary Kelly, community relations manager. Times vary at each location, as do book selections.

According to Sno-Isle’s online calendar, selections scheduled for upcoming discussion are “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” (Darrington Library), “Lying Awake” (Mountlake Terrace Library), “Ella Minnow Pea” (Granite Falls Library), “The Restraint of Beasts” (Marysville Library), “The Photograph” (Monroe Library), “Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee” (Brier Library) and “Montana 1948” (Lake Stevens Library).

At the Mill Creek and Mukilteo libraries, it’s Bring Your Own Book for the January discussion, with participants each having five minutes to share what they’ve been reading and to make recommendations, while at the Lynnwood Library, the Parent-Child Book Club will be discussing the “Frindle” by Andrew Clements.

For those interested in starting a book discussion group of their own, Sno-Isle Libraries loans out book discussion kits, with each kit including 15 copies of a single title as well as book discussion questions, Kelly said. The collection includes 92 titles, from nonfiction works such as “Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig” to the fictional “Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-time.”

Resources Sno-Isle Libraries The regional library system operates a network of 20 libraries, many of which hold book discussion groups. The organization also loans out book discussion kits. For information on individual book discussion groups or book group discussion kits, contact the nearest Sno-Isle library or go online to www.sno-isle.org. Everett Public Library The library, whose main building is located at 2930 Wetmore Ave., in Everett, holds a monthly book discussion group and also loans out book discussion kits. For more information on the discussion group, contact Marge Bodre at 425-257-7659 or send e-mail to mbodre@ci.everett.wa.us. For more information on book discussion kits, contact Anita Johansen at 425-257-8012 or send e-mail to ajohansen@ci.everett.wa.us. Edmonds Bookshop The bookshop, located at 111 Fifth Ave. S., in Edmonds, holds book group discussions twice a month, at 7 p.m. the first Thursday and at 9 a.m. the third Wednesday. For more information, call 425-775-2789. Barnes & Noble.com Book Clubs Learn more about the online book clubs at http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com.

The Everett Public Library also offers a collection of more than three dozen titles for book groups, with 10-copy sets and discussion packets available for lending, said Anita Johansen, the library’s career and training coordinator.

While Johansen oversees the Book Group Collection, research librarian Marge Bodre coordinates the library’s monthly book discussion group, which takes place the third Monday of each month from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the main library in downtown Everett.

The group averages 12 participants, which is just about the limit for a good discussion, said Bodre, adding that she plans to add an evening discussion group this spring.

Also in the works at the library is an Adult Winter Reading Program. Kicking off Jan. 28 with an appearance by 2006 National Book Award winner Timothy Egan and running through April 28, the program will award prizes for books read, Bodre said. During the course of the program, authors will come in for book discussions and signings.

Another program scheduled to begin at the library this winter is a monthly brown-bag book discussion, with participants given the opportunity to talk with other book lovers about whatever it is they’re reading. The program is set to begin in February and will be coordinated by Bodre’s colleague Scott Condon.

This slew of new programs is all part of the Everett Public Library’s yearlong campaign to increase library membership, Bodre said, noting that of the 100,000 or so residents of Everett, about 40,000 have library cards.

Outside of local public library systems, book discussion groups can be found at nationally known bookstores as well as locally owned operations, including the Edmonds Bookshop.

There, owner Mary Kay Sneeringer and her staff host book discussions at 7 p.m. the first Thursday of the month and at 9 a.m. the third Wednesday of the month for folks to share their thoughts on a pre-selected book.

“It pushes you out of your comfort zone,” Sneeringer said of participating in a book discussion group. Not only do you read books you might not normally choose, you also gain new insight from others.

“It makes me read a book differently if I know I’m going to be discussing it,” added Sneeringer, who is a member of three different discussion groups. “I look for different themes and images.”

For readers whose schedules don’t allow for regular discussion group meetings, there is an online option, courtesy of Barnes & Noble.com.

“We’ve been doing online book clubs or reading groups for about three-and-a-half years, but recently re-launched the program to give it a better platform,” said Kevin Ryan, vice president of content development for Barnes & Noble.com.

To become a member, readers must first create an online account. From there, they can take part in message board discussions with other readers and authors, with the boards moderated by “academics, book lovers, people with expertise in the genre,” Ryan said.

“Moderators help guide the conversation, but it’s really the participants (who are) driving where the conversation is going,” he said.

“One of the things that we just launched is the ability to keep a book club open beyond the author’s interaction,” Ryan said, so that clubs can continue “conversations from other people who are just discovering the book.”

Sounds like just the thing to take the mind off winter’s dark days.