I have tried joining an in-person book club. Several, in fact. When we first moved the Houston area I went to many in an attempt to meet more people my own age (as when we first moved down here the only people we were consistently hanging out with were my parents...although I love them, we also needed people other than family to have fun with!). I have a book club that my husband and I go to once a month. We enjoy the people, but everyone is closer to my parents' ages rather than ours. That is my one complaint. There are tons of book clubs in the Houston area...some of them are too far away to be practical (I love Jane Austen, but I don't see myself driving to Tomball...sorry, guys). Others you have to be a particular type of person to be a member (moms, retired couples, Christians, etc.). Where are the bookclubs for twenty-somethings? Hello? I like to read and discuss books, too. I have never tried joining an online book club; I personally prefer face-to-face interactions for book discussions. I always hated the online components in my graduate course work...I can't imagine a book discussion group being much different (feeling obligated to post...wondering if you have the time...feeling like everyone else is showing me up because they seem to post a new comment every twenty minutes...)
Exercise Two:
We actually have a reading group for our teens. We have the kids come in and talk about everything they've enjoyed reading over the last month. With our teens, having a designated book to discuss doesn't really work - schedules are busy, they don't all like to read the same thing, we don't have to worry about having enough copies of a certain title, they don't have to feel any strain to read above their level or on a topic they don't enjoy, and there is no pressure to have something "completed." Sometimes the kiddos will have read the same book and we can talk about it together. Other times they are just excited to share what they've enjoyed and pick up some recommendations (it's like a readers' advisory group...so now it's not just silly old me telling them the book is good, it's their peers as well!).
Exercise Three:
I searched for reviews and ratings for Looking for Alaska by John Green on both Shelfari and LibraryThing. The Shelfari community rated the title a little over a four (slightly lower than Amazon's customer reviews...at least according to Shelfari). LibraryThing users rated the title with 4.36 stars. The reviews seem roughly the same. Some absolutely love the book...and a few think it is overrated, unrealistic and doesn't make sense
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