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My recent visit to a Rankin County Book club 6/13/2007 3:18:17 PM
Okay, this is one of those blog entries that I feel comfortable making only on my own blog and not tied to one of my organizations, because I feel it is more personal. Here goes:
As is my custom each month, I visit with other book clubs to be a part of their discussions and to take notes on how their meetings are operated. Conversations Book Club is definitely one that is different in that it has author interaction in each discussion. I like to show myself to others and let them know that we want them to support the authors we bring to the table just as we want to support their efforts.
My visit to a Book Club in Brandon, MS, however, reaffirmed to me that some people not only can not be helped, but don't want to see others help as well.
The book club president, who shall remain nameless, has been inviting me to her discussions for a while. I had made up my mind to support her group on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 because they were discussing a book by a friend of mine: SACRIFICE THE ONE by Monica Carter.
To be of help to her, I had reached out to Monica to see if she would be able to take part in the discussion with the group via conference call, since the book club does nto get a great deal of author participation. She had agreed, and then I contact the book club president to see if she could make it happen. At that time the president told me that the room they met in didn't have a phone jack for such an event. I passed this on to the author, and thanked her for her willingness to participate.
I made it to the meeting early, like always, brought along some of the books our book club groups are reading to share with them.
After the discussion of the book, I was able to tell those gathered about the events that we were hosting in the future, as well as telling them how they were welcome to attend our meetings on nights that didn't conflict with theres.
Ironically, I also told them that Conversations Book Club was open to everyone, and that we didn't expect people to leave their book club in order to enjoy other events that featured authors. At this time, the book club president mentioned that the days Conversations has events are not on the days they normally meet. I told her that this is why they could take advantage of the authors that visited the state through Conversations.
I left the meeting feeling good--- until I returned to the library today.
It was then that I learned that this book club president had a serious issue with my talking about my book club meetings and the books we were discussing. It also came out that it seems to stem from her belief that those in her group can not support other events without running out on her book club.
This is very sad, and the very reason why I am glad that Conversations Book Club is set up the way that it is.
When I found out today from the library branch manager how offended this book club president was, it truly showed how some people are so closeminded to people being able to juggle more than one thing at once. Her attitude about my presence at her book club also showed how threatened some are by someone who is able to provide something meaningful to more than a small group.
I know there are other book club presidents like this one. And for all of them, I am terribly sorry.
Will I support future events by this book club? No. Will I tell why? Well, I just did, didn't I?
