One Book, Multiple Discussions

A book club selection doesn't have to be read and discussed at a single get-together. Longer books and those with complex subject matter can be split over two or more meetings, as Heather Johnson's group, Storie delle Sorelle, has successfully done. To read Heather's previous ReadingGroupGuides.com blog post, click here.


Are long books "outlawed" by your club? It may not be an official rule, but most clubs I know avoid books with 400+ pages. The most common reason I hear is "We just can't read any more in one month!" My reply to that is always the same: "Who says you have to finish a book each month?!"

My club's first book was John Steinbeck's East of Eden. The whole concept of a book club was new to us, and we didn't quite know how to attack this 600+ page book. So we split it up! That first summer we met every 2 weeks to discuss 150-page "bites." Each meeting began with a recap of the plot so far. Any confusing spots were cleared up before we moved on to official discussion questions. This was wildly successful for us. First, all six ladies were able to keep up with the reading schedule. Second, our meetings were relatively short (only 1½ hours at most, including dinner) --- a good thing when we met so often! And finally, no one "got lost" or quit. Many of the girls said they would never have made it through this book any other way --- and all were glad they did.

As our club developed we realized that most books don't work well when you split them up...there just isn't enough to talk about. Our rule of thumb now is to give one week of reading time for every 100 pages, usually allowing us to meet once a month.

Occasionally someone (ok, ok --- its always me!) chooses a longer-than-usual book. For example, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. We split this 800-page book in half with two meetings. At our first meeting one gal showed up with a character list she found on the internet; she said she had a hard time keeping track of who's who and used the list frequently while reading. As we began our discussion I found that many others were struggling, too. So we stopped our discussion of the novel to review the historical setting of the story. We also discussed the author's personal beliefs and how they come through in her version of the King Arthur tale. (I'm a big fan of doing some research before a meeting --- you never know what you'll find that will enhance the discussion!) The ladies left the meeting much more confident than when they arrived, ready to continue reading. Because we spent our first meeting reviewing and clarifying the plot, our second meeting was a huge success. Without that first meeting many of the girls would have quit less than halfway through. It's no fun to continue reading if you don't understand what's going on! This way, everyone did complete the book...and boy, were those ladies proud of themselves.

A book doesn't have to be long to benefit from two meetings. What about books with difficult or extensive subject matter? My club's current book is Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible. It has a variety of themes, fascinating characters, covers a lengthy, politically turbulent time period in a country we know little about, and that's much more than we can cover in one meeting. Our first meeting was last month --- we talked for two hours straight! At the end of the meeting I passed out packets including a brief political history of the Congo and definitions of unfamiliar words. Armed with that info, we continued reading. The next meeting is just around the corner, and I'm really excited. Our discussion will cover the political situation as well as the conclusion of the story. The girls are really enjoying this book, and I know they'll have a lot to say. If we tried to cover this book in one meeting we'd have left out many of the best aspects of this novel. But by splitting it up we get to talk about everything that we feel is important.

I challenge YOU to choose an "outlawed" book for your club to read. Split it up over two or even three meetings --- whatever works for your group. You never know what literary treasure you might find or what sense of accomplishment you could feel. Go on, girl, break the rules!

---Heather Johnson