What was the book? And had you read it yourself before choosing it?

I'm not a member of a book club (except here...) so I can't judge, but it certainly seems unfair to blame you for a book you chose if you hadn't actually read it...

I suggested two that bombed, actually. One was ... Sarah Canary, which I obviously love. The group just didn't get it. They did, however, enjoy my trying to explain to them the humor in the book. I got so tickled I could barely breathe, much less talk. We still share a good laugh whenever anyone mentions SC, all in good fun, of course

The other book that I was sure they would love was Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg. It's a mystery set in Norway and Greenland with fascinating characters and lots of action. They couldn't keep the characters straight, even though I designed a cheat sheet for them to use. Once again, they just didn't get it.

Ah well. There have been many books that I didn't care for, too. But we've been together for 12 years now and still disagreeing about books.

I ran a book club for about five years (now recently dismantled) but I had a few bombs as well. I loved "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin, but few others did. Also "The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love" by Oscar Hijuelo (sp) was another one that sank like a lead balloon. The gamble that the club had to take was if I recommended a book to read, it was based on what I had heard, not if I had read it so there was a certain level of uncertainty which went with it all.

It was fun while it lasted and even if they didn't like it, we still had good discussions on what they didnt like. But the worst thing was when no one had read the book and they still came to book club. Yikes.

My club recently read Watership Down and out of twelve of us, only two finished and loved it--and one of them was me. It was my choice (our club has each member responsible for a month but we vote on each member's picks to narrow it down to one book for their month.) A Beautiful Mind was our inaugural book nearly six years ago and it was a stinker; we survived. Sometimes we get good discussions out of books that were just OK and sometimes the discourse lags when everyone really enjoyed a book.

I only recommend books I've read, and usually ones I love which makes it difficult when they fail miserably. A few of my many bombs: The Pilgrim by Timothy Findley (they just didn't get it at all), and Cloud Atlas (we had five people at the discussion and it actually went well. The next club meeting the rest of them took turns bashing the book before they started on the current month selection) and House of Spirits by Isabel Allende. But I keep recommending them,and they still pick them for some reason.

I've picked several books that didn't go over well. I picked The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead and of the 2 of nine who read it (the others hated it) one thought it was the best book she ever read. Lucky for me she is the reader we most respect, but I don't quite know why. She really did pick the book we all liked least, The Burdens of Sister Margaret, a well documented (because she was a whiner who was always petitioning the church powers that be) bio of a 17th century nun.

Neil Gaiman's third volume of Sandman (a good stand alone to get people started on Sandman) didn't go over well at all. I genuinely got the impression that they were offended by the idea of reading a "comic book." So I was more than a little amused that at least one confessed she didn't know A Midsummer's Night Dream" and couldn't understand the story about it at all.

Even if we don't like a book, we always find a lot to discuss. I should note, however, that this group really demands that we respect each other enough to read our choices. Rarely do people not read the selection. Another group I read with encourages everyone to show up anyway and the discussions frequently wander off topic. But that's okay, this group gets together in other combinations regularly for lunch, anyway.

I almost never suggest a book I've already read. I'm rarely interested in re-reading.

As with Martin, I have never belonged to a book group, I don't think they are nearly as big over here as they are in the US. In fact we don't go in much for women's groups, sewing circles, quilting bee's and the various church get-togethers we 'understand' happen in the States. English people could certtainly be more neighbourly.
As it is I get most of my book knowledge from here at RP and, at least, if someone disagrees with me or me with them there are no bruises to show for it. :-)

I haven't been able to go to book club for quite some time now because of the demands of going back to college, but I have to chime in here. I usually didn't like the same books as the others, but I mostly kept my mouth shut if I didn't. I would always try to find something to discuss other than, "Did I Like It?" I was, however, in the minority.

One woman constantly irritated me by vigorously putting down books she hadn't even read! I pointed out to her on several occasions that her opinion would carry more weight if she had actually cracked the spine. I also once offered up the statistic that something like 99% of the people who try to get books banned have not actually read said book.

Maybe it's a good thing I don't go to that book club anymore!

I joined several real-life book clubs before I finally decided that I'm not the right sort. Most of the selections, unfortunately, I count as some of the worst stinkers I've read in my life.

Those I've recommended haven't gone over terribly well either. One was The Book of Ebenezer LePage which I think is wonderful but most readers (all Americans, in this case) just didn't see why I thought it was so amusing. I have to admit, though, that the wit is very dry and often ironic, and the use of dialect is probably inhibiting to understanding. And an old man's memories of his little backwater island (Guernsey) during the first half of the twentieth century apparently has limited appeal, although I'm not sure why.

For the past four years, I've been in a book club and I am usually the odd (wo)man out when it comes to book selections. But since I've come to know and love the other members, we all stick it out. First of all, they visibly GROAN when it's my turn to present books, but we all laugh about it afterward. And I've come to realize that I never would have read some of the really good books we've shared without being a member of book club. And they certainly would never have "suffered through and lived to tell the tale" about several of my choices. The main thing we learned was that if you don't read the book, you don't really have anything to say in the discussion which is 3/4 of the meeting, and that's just plain boring. Also, we all know that people are simply not going to get every book read for a variety of reasons. In short, we get over it and get on with the real reasons we are there together... to discuss books the best that we are able, to try new books we wouldn't pick on our own, and chat and laugh together. Having a member or two that are fanatical without a sense of humor, or a member that is so close-minded that they openly roll their eyes at others opinions would squelch a lot of groups. As veer touched upon, good manners are absolutely essential, and to that I add, so is a sense of humor.

Books that bombed:
Two Women - Marianne Frederikson
The Custom of the Country - Edith Wharton (my choice, naturally)
In the Castle of the Flynns - don't know who wrote it but hopefully he's no longer writing for a living.
The Jane Austen Book Club - Karen Joy Fowler
The Innocents Abroad - Mark Twain - only two of us read it and we loved it.
The Sheep Queen - Thomas Savage (another man who should not be a writer)
The Rule of Four - Caldwell and somebody else
Queenan Country - Joe Queenan (this guy should only write his finance columns. He is NOT funny.)
The Ride of Our Lives - Mike Leonard (just nothing to discuss, really)
The Geographer's Library - Joe Fasman (we all thought the book was so poorly written that it should be recycled.)

What we found makes for the best discussions is when we do not all agree on a book. It's the differing opinions that make the discussion lively.

Top five best discussions:
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Devil in the White City - Erik Larson
Under the Banner of Heaven - Jon Krakauer
Ella Minnow Pea - Mark Dunn
The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown

PAM

martin - The book I suggested was one that I had read previously and had wanted to talk about with others. It is non-fiction, called "Nine Parts of Desire - The Hidden World of Islamic Women" by Geraldine Brooks, and I was certain that we would have a lively discusion. I couldn't have been more wrong! It was absolutely like pulling teeth to elicit any response, and there was a feeling of resentment that was palpable. Most of the women stayed in the bookclub, but some have never really trusted me since then.

We pick our books from the library list now, submitting three choices. The library gives us what ever title is available. Everyone takes a turn submitting her choices.

BTW, Ms Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for her Civil War book, "March".

Thyrkas, my group loved Nine Parts of Desire! We still talk about it years later. The next book that year was my choice and I picked Brook's husband Tony Horowitz's Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War. One of the first comments at the discussion was that the book was so full of racists, she couldn't get past the first few pages. That statement pretty well shut down all discussion. I was devastated. She left our group not long after. And, btw, the book is not racist.

chris - Thanks for letting me know about your bookclub's positive reaction to "Desire". I suppose one can never truly know how any group will respond to a book, but gosh, I was sure that "Desire" was wide open to discussion. And apparently, your bookclub thought so, too! Wish I could have been there...

I don't care for Geraldine Brook's fiction, but enjoy her non fiction, and thought Desire was excellent. That response of theirs is just weird.

>Ms Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for her Civil War book, "March

Really disliked that book; the prize should have gone to Doctorow for The March. IMHO

>The Innocents Abroad - Mark Twain - only two of us read it and we loved it.

Wow,I'd never imagined that would bomb

My recommendation for Neil Gaiman books worked well in my sci fi group, but trying to discuss Good Omen bombed because the folks just didn't get the humor

I tire of my group sometimes because they tend to chose books that everyone is already reading (how many times do we have to read Kite Runner?). But they have been willing to try some unusual books. What has been nice lately is that many who do not finish a book don't show up. So those who are there are ready to discuss, even if its a bomb!

I have had many people recommend Ebenzer Le Page to me, and I've tried it three times. Just didn't take.

>The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

Oh thats good - we are reading it in December.

>but trying to discuss Good Omen bombed because the folks just didn't get the humor

Meant to add 'the folks in my General Fiction book group'

cindy - I didn't like "March" either. Good point about comparing her fiction and non-fiction; "Year of Wonders" was OK, but the ending was rediculous. We did have a decent discussion of that particular book at our group, though, as the subject of the plague in England was interesting.

How many book groups do you attend?

Three - two general fiction and one sci fi. One of the gf groups I've been in for years. The other one is new and I am liking it and considering dropping the old one.

I'm also on another book forum. Yes, I have no other life, why do you ask :)

We also read Year of Wonders and had the same problem with the ending. After we got passed that, we discussed the moral dilemma the book centers around and it was quite intersting.

BTW Brooks is the wife of Tony Horowitz who has written some wonderful non fiction accounts of various topics. Both are journalists by training, they met as reporters in the middle east during the Iranian revolution in the 70s. Their training shows in their non fiction writing. Loses something in translation in her fiction tho.

cindy - How did you find all those book groups? I think I'd like to add at least one more book group to my life, just for a little variety. I tried one at my local library last year. We discussed Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth, which could take days to do right. But after exactly one hour the discussion was declared over and everyone went home. I guess since the librarian is doing this as part of her job she didn't really want to put in any extra time. That was disappointing.

Sarah, we have an independent bookstore here that is nationally known (won the Publisher Weekly Best Bookseller award last year), its been around for 35 years. They've had book groups for ages, but before they were always far afield from where I lived. Now they are about a mile from my house, so joining their many groups is easy. They have ten or so, ranging from Philosophy, to Current Events to Spiritual Awareness. Ive been a member of the general fiction group for five years, since the store moved. Been a part of the sci fi group just this year. The other one is new. I discovered it by going to meetup.com, and clicking on bookgroups and my zipcode. Voila, found three in my area! That site has meetups for everything imaginable. Check it out.

The other book forum I am on is Readerville, which I went to from the old Table Talk forum. Found this group through a fellow villian.

Here is a link that might be useful: bookgroups at Changing Hands

Wow, cindy. How great to have all those options available to you. I'm jealous. Is Changing Hands the anme of the booskstore?

oops! That would be "name."

I just hung my little toe on the corner of the wall and I'm typing with one hand and holding a bag of ice on my toe with the other. Ouch, ouch.

Ow! As for typos, at least you have an excuse. When I do typos, they aren't because of an injury :)

Yep, its Changing Hands. And I agree, I am very lucky. Its odd, this city is so conservative and staid, yet they have one of the most amazing independent (in the best sense of the word) bookstores in the country. And unlike other places, there's no danger of fading away (it helps that there is a Wildflower Bakery next door...)

Biggest book club bomb was Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. I was lucky to escape with my life. The best discussion (same group; I redeemed myself) was Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.