Susan Clark began "The Centennial Book Group" when she moved to Ellicott City, MD in 2004. Not knowing anyone in her new city, she was inspired to begin a book club as a way of making friends. In this interview, Susan talks about the ways in which she and her fellow members continue to build strong relationships with each other. She also explains the club's "democratic" system of selecting books each year as well as how her group works together with the local library.

Q: Does your group have a name and/or a theme? How long has your group been in existence?

A: We call our book group "The Centennial Book Group," and we've been together since December 2004.

Q: How many members do you have? How many men, how many women? What age are most of your members?

A: We began with five members, but two dropped out. However, we were determined to make our club work, and we hung in there, and over the course of six months we were up to eight members all by word of mouth. Our members are all women in their 40s and 50s.

Q: How often do you meet? Where do you meet?

A: We meet every third Wednesday of the month at each other’s homes.

Q: Do you eat at your meetings? What do you eat? Who brings the food?

A: Whoever is hosting handles the food --- some kind of appetizers/munchies and after we are finished with our discussion. There is always room for dessert --- and the wine flows throughout our meeting!

Q: Who leads the discussion? Do you use reading group guides?

A: Again, the person who is hosting the meeting leads the discussion. The hostess always starts the discussion by giving the other members a background about the author, which we usually all find quite interesting. Then she leads us into discussion usually with the reading group guide's questions, but sometimes the discussion just leads itself if we have a lot to talk about and we may end up only using one or two questions --- it just depends on the interest level with that month's book.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: Mainly fiction, but now we have incorporated one classic and one nonfiction into our year, and we have decided to keep July and December as "books of our choice" to take the pressure off of people who may not be able to make it to July's meeting due to summer vacation and December with the holiday season.

Q: How do you choose your books? Do you choose one new book at each meeting, or do you choose the books for a number of meetings ahead of time?

A: We choose books once a year. Our local library works with our group to schedule the books and be sure there are enough copies for all members. The librarian will contact other libraries in the county to acquire additional copies. This way it saves everyone from going out and purchasing books all the time. Our copies are available the third Wednesday of each month for that next month's meeting. As for choosing our books, we bring two or three suggested fiction books, one classic and one nonfiction book to our August meeting. I then compose a list of approximately 20-30 books and have each member vote by giving the books points. So if there is a list of 20 fiction books for suggested titles, the women give a 20 next to the book that is their first choice down to giving a 1 for the book they want to read least. There is a similar point system for the classics and biographies. The points are totaled and those books receiving the top 10 most points will be the picks for that next year. We feel that this is the most democratic way to do it.

Q: What were some of the best discussions or favorite books the group read?

A: The Kite Runner wins hands down --- but we had some interesting discussions that led into other discussions of learning about other members’ lives. We all loved discussing Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, and a great discussion came from Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. Both were great books to learn about the life of a geisha and the hardships living out west.

Q: How do you keep things fun?

A: We have annual potluck in June and make sure the book we read for that month is fairly light. We also do a Secret Santa book exchange in December. At every month's meeting we allow the first 20 minutes or so to just socialize as well as the last 30 minutes --- our group is not just about reading books, it’s about building strong relationships between strong women!

Q: What advice would you give to other reading groups?

A: Have "fun," "laugh" and try not to take to heart someone who may disagree with you on a topic in whatever book you are reading --- life is too short!! If you feel like you have a "book diva" in your group who monopolizes the conversation too much, make sure that the hostess realizes what is going on and have her interrupt politely and ask to hear from someone else. Be sure "everyone" gets a chance to speak --- it’s a group activity, not a solo one!

Q: Do you have any horror stories, amusing anecdotes, or other special tales to tell?

A: No horror stories or amusing anecdotes. When I moved to Maryland I knew no one, so I decided that I would try to start a book club. And because of the people who signed up, I've made it a point every year in December to compile all the book's titles so that members can remember what they have read. Instead of just giving them a list, I write a poem that incorporates all of that year's book titles --- the poems usually have a funny twist to them and the members seem to really enjoy this.

Q: Is there anything else unique or noteworthy about your group that you would like to share?

A: We have a unique group of women who have a wide variety of careers --- two audiologists, a media assistant, an art teacher, an instructional assistant, one woman who assists her husband with his medical practice, a library volunteer and a human resource specialist. In my opinion that is a wide variety, which is important in a book club --- the more varied the better!

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