I would not call myself a member of a book club, although I do sit in on some of the book club discussions here at the branch -- the science fiction book club and the staff book club, which is much more general. I have not joined any online book clubs at this point.
The obvious advantages of an in-person club include the warmth of human contact. You get to see real people with all of their wonderful quirks and foibles. You also generally get to hold the book in you hand, which is wonderful for cookbooks or other books that might contain illustrations. Then too there is the excitement that can be generated spontaneously over a title that everyone starts talking at once!
I readily admit that online book clubs can have some real advantages also. You can meet people from anywhere, and that in itself can be stimulating. You also do not have to put up with the aforementioned quirks & foible's of other people. After all, human interactions can be a very messy business -- b.o., halitosis, nervous ticks, shyness, to name a few. You may also possibly be a lot more open to speaking your mind (definitely a two-edged sword). Finally, an online book club could, in theory be a lot more flexible in the meeting schedule, as well as cutting down on travel expenses.
Some of the online book clubs sound like fun and I may well try one when I have more time. I am particulary interested in Shelfari because I am always coming across titles that sound interesting and wondering if I should read this or that one, or at least put it on my 'to read' list.
Exercise 2
This branch (Freeman) hosts a staff book club, which is very informal and open to all staff. Not only books, but just about anything related to reading that someone wants to share is okay. The library also makes room for a sci-fi book club, a great books discussion group, a mystery book club and a Teens Read club.
It might be neat to start a book club that caters to the tastes of men -- a military fiction or adventurers book club or something of that sort -- even though we can't restrict it to just males. From what I have read, it has been tried in some other libraries with pretty good success. Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield would be a good book to start with. This is definitely a 'guy' book with very little (in my opinion) appeal for women. On Shelfari.com there were 56 reader reviews of the book. Most readers gave it a 4 or 5 star rating (on a scale of 1 to 5) with only one reader giving it a 1 star, and saying they did not like it.
Exercise 3
The Wreckers by Iain Lawrence was rated by five readers on Shelfari. One person did not like it, and the rest thought is was good to very good.
On the Readerville site, the book received seven reviews ranging from 3 to 4.5 stars (also on a 5 star scale). No one of this site said they not like the book.
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