Book Club Experience

I attended the Graphic Novel Book Club at the Logan Square branch of the Chicago Public Library. The club meets every two months, usually on a Tuesday from 6:30-7:30. There is no food or drink involved. I’ve attended a few times in the past and had wildly different experiences each time. Honestly, the “don’t know what you’re gonna get” aspect is part of what keeps me coming back, but the highs are pretty high and the lows…are pretty low. I do occasionally wish it was more consistently well-attended. Some weeks it’s only 2-3 people, while others it’s a more comfortable 5-7.

The book we read in February was Bttm Fdrs by Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore. I hadn’t read the book before, but I was able to pick up a reserved copy of it from the branch about 10 days prior and finished it without any issue. In the past I’ve had difficulty finishing the book because the leader tends to pick longer titles. The club is facilitated by the Adult Services librarian, Michael. He’s a gay Latino gentleman probably in his 40’s. He’s been at the branch for a while and seen some changes happen in the neighborhood. He’s got a kind of an old-school, nerdy personality (I’ve heard him mention Star Trek).

Michael never leads with any particular questions, or even seems to have any prepared in advance. He does set the tone for the group a little by stating his personal opinion. There are regulars at this group, which speaks to the general positivity of the space. Sometimes we meet in the group meeting room, and other times if it’s in use (it was in February), we sit at a little table by the offices. I’ve noticed since I started going to the club that the Graphic Novels section has a new home back by this table, which makes for interesting and efficient browsing before, during, and after the club meets.

At February’s meeting, there were seven attendees, including Michael. One woman in her 50’s who admitted to having never read a graphic novel before the club, three regulars (one who comes from Humboldt Park, a neighborhood about 20 minutes away from Logan Square by bus or train)—two women in their 30’s/40’s and a man in his 30’s, and another newbie guy who appeared to be mid-to-late twenties if I had to guess. I’d met two of them before.

At the beginning of the meeting, we went around the table to introduce ourselves and mentioned if we had been to the club before or not. Everyone at this meeting was courteous throughout, and no one hogged the spotlight. In a previous meeting, a woman had brought her own book (a sort of cross between West World and Romeo & Juliet—the book we read that time was the graphic novel adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep so it wasn’t entirely…unrelated?) that she proceeded to read to the rest of us without prompting. I was glad she wasn’t there this time.

We shared our general opinion of the book. It seemed like the room was split—half enjoyed it, and half admitted it wasn’t their thing, but no one really had anything negative to say. It was more like they didn’t feel connected to the storyline or didn’t understand what was going on, rather than actively disliking it. Or, perhaps I read the room wrong and people just didn’t want to share why they didn’t like it. One regular admitted she’d learned through other meetings of the club that she prefers nonfiction graphic novels, so this one, with its slightly absurdist take on gentrification in a factionalized Chicago neighborhood, didn’t do it for her. The younger man and I both seemed to be the biggest fans of the selection.

After everyone had finished saying what they thought, and pointing out favorite panels or characters or asking questions about what the rest of us thought things meant, the discussion naturally evolved into sharing recommendations for other media we liked (books, movies, what was streaming on Netflix). Finally, chatting died down and it was time to pick the next book. Michael usually tends to guide us to books that he knows have enough copies to accommodate the rotating cast of regulars and newbies. This time, he mentioned that the graphic novel version of Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale wasn’t in use by any other clubs at the moment. Everyone seemed to be open to that suggestion and it was decided!

I’m pretty used to being a participating member in library book clubs, but when I first started going, I felt inadequate. It had been a few years since I was used to “reading closely,” or being asked to discuss my opinions with others in a classroom, and it takes practice to do that outside of a classroom as well. I think the advice ilovelibraries gives to avoid making statements about what you “like” or “dislike” is spot on. I’ve been the only one in a group who has enjoyed a book before, and it can be hard to speak up about that if everyone else seems really down on it. If you can be more specific about what you like or dislike—say, a character, or the art on a certain page, in my experience that can keep the conversation moving in a positive way, even if no one agrees with your overall feelings about the book.

One surprising thing about the book club is sometimes we read books that bring up difficult topics, but there never seems to be any avoidance of them, and everyone at the meeting listens and responds respectfully. In the case of Bttm Fdrs, there is a theme of gentrification in the book, and we were meeting in a Chicago neighborhood that has seen a fair amount of it. Michael was first to bring it up, and I don’t know if that was strategic or not, but it was smart either way. He didn’t talk about it in an emotional way, and stuck to the facts—he’d been in the area and at the library for more than 10 years, and a lot had changed. No one could disagree with that. We even talked about some city history I wasn’t aware of. Perhaps this might have gone differently if someone in the group had experienced severe hardship caused by gentrification, but I suppose I have no way of knowing. I’m just assuming it wasn’t too painful of a topic for the attendees, or if it was, no one made it known. Perhaps if that was the case, a person would elect not to go to the meeting? I’d love to hear about how librarians prepare for potentially tough topics like this.

If I was the leader of a book club like this one, I’d probably come prepared with more questions to spark conversation. But who am I to say Michael’s book club needs to change in any way? He’s pulling in a variety of members each time, and has consistent regulars. The club’s overall vibe is positive, and I left feeling happy I went. I’m probably going to go back again!

Resources:

Ilovelibraries. (n.d.) “Facilitating a Discussion.” Retrieved from http://www.ilovelibraries.org/booklovers/bookclub