THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701240195
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 166 lines
ASK THEM WHAT happened this week on Melrose Place, and they probably won't be able to help you.
But ask the members of the African Mahogany book club what they thought of this month's read, and they might just talk all night.
Their monthly book discussions begin at 7 p.m. and end when the library staff tells them to go home so they can close up the building.
``Our group is pretty gung-ho,'' said Patricia Butts, who founded the group. ``By the time we're done, the library has to throw us out.''
African Mahogany is one of several reading groups that have sprouted up in Chesapeake libraries, homes and book stores within the last year.
Members say the Chesapeake reading groups provide an outlet for people who want to talk about books but who do not want to commute to Norfolk or the Peninsula to do it. Many members are new residents to Chesapeake who have brought their love of reading groups with them, Butts said.
The Chesapeake Barnes & Noble book store formed a fiction book club this fall and held its first organizational meetings for new history and travel reading groups last week.
Both African Mahogany, which focuses on African-American writers, and the Chesapeake Chatters, which discusses fiction, meet at the Greenbrier Library and formed just more than a year ago.
Some reading groups prefer the comfort of their homes.
C. Jean Johnson's neighborhood book club meets in members' homes. Although formed only a few months ago, it already has a waiting list. Johnson does not advertise her group for fear of drawing too large a crowd.
Others form book clubs to escape their house.
Kelly Breiner co-founded the fiction group at Barnes & Noble as a way to take a break from homemaking.
Breiner's 18-month-old son, Kevin, keeps her busy most of the day. Although she loves him, she said his conversation is just not as stimulating as she would like.
``Books present an intellectual something I really needed and that I wasn't getting from the baby,'' Breiner said. ``I also needed to talk to other women. It's nice to talk about something other than the baby.''
Mothers aren't the only ones who gravitate to reading groups.
Reading groups are an outlet for people with liberal arts degrees and non-literary jobs, said Amy Monroe, who leads the fiction group. She now works at Barnes & Noble, but is looking for a teaching job.
In the meantime, she misses talking about books.
``I feel like my degree was worth something because I'm actually using my English degree,'' Monroe said. ``Before, I felt like my brain was just vegetating.''
For many, reading groups are as much social as cerebral.
Johnson, who sometimes attends the Barnes & Noble group, said she and her friends also began their book club years ago when they all had small children. They have regrouped in order to renew their reading habit.
Many say they go to book clubs looking for a challenge.
Attending Johnson's reading circle encourages Pat Orgaine to broaden her reading list.
``I tend to stick to best sellers,'' Orgaine said. ``A book club forces you into reading something you ordinarily would not. That's the purpose of a book club, to stretch you.''
Monthly book clubs also encourage readers to keep on schedule - either by incentive or peer pressure.
``My plan is to get people reading,'' Butt said. ``People need to make time to read. If you want to read, you'll find the time.''
And book clubs encourage members to continue reading difficult books they might ordinarily drop.
``I would never have finished Song of Solomon without the book club,'' Breiner said. ``The characters were just very hard for me to understand.''
Of course, some books are more popular with readers than others, Monroe said. She had to work to get a reading group in Virginia Beach to take a second look at Beloved by Toni Morrison.
``It's my favorite book, and they all just hated it, which made me feel terrible,'' Monroe said. ``People tend to favor books with happier endings. They don't want to be depressed.''
Some of the best discussions arise when readers dislike a book, said Carol McCuen, a librarian at the Central Library who organizes the Chesapeake Chatters.
Few of the Chatters could get a handle of The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie, she said. But members were vocal about their criticisms of The Celestine Prophecy.
Most reading groups select books based on members' suggestions. The Chesapeake Chatters discussed The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan last week. African Mahogany has discussed Langston Hughes' The Return of Simple and Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God.
``If members pick the books, they'll come back to discuss it,'' Butts said. ``Generally, the person who suggests the book leads the discussion. I tell people it's not homework, that they don't need to do a lot of research, but that's the way people are approaching it.''
There are some books that are best avoided - at least for now.
Many book groups have learned to stay away from novels being discussed on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
The talk show host's popular monthly televised book discussions have made best sellers out of novels such as J. Hamilton's The Book of Ruth and Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, which was published more than a decade ago.
Winfrey's selection of the month causes stampedes at the library, as well.
``The problem with Oprah is that she doesn't let libraries know ahead of time which book she's reading,'' McCuen. ``We try not to read anything on the Oprah list because five minutes after five (o'clock), after she does a book show, we'll get 50 calls.''
Finding enough books to go around is a common problem.
The Chesapeake Chatters shies away from best sellers altogether because they are too hard to find, McCuen said.
African Mahogany also has trouble locating enough books for its members, Butts said. The Chesapeake library has agreed to reserve up to seven copies of a title for African Mahogany. But that's still not enough for the group's 14 regulars, who share copies and put in for back orders months in advance.
Although Chesapeake's book clubs were around long before Winfrey began her own, McCuen praises the talk show for encouraging reading.
``It's certainly promoting reading and reading groups,'' McCuen said. MEMO: To list your book club's meetings in the Clipper, mail your
information to: The Virginian-Pilot, 921 N. Battlefield Blvd.,
Chesapeake, Va. 23320 or fax 436-2798. All meetings must be free and
open to the public. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos including color cover by GARY KNAPP
Amy Monroe, left, leads a reading group at Barnes and Noble. Joining
her are Jean F. Johnson, center, and Maura Boyle.
Kelly Breiner brought her 18-month-old son Kevin to a recent Barnes
& Noble reading club meeting. She says she co-founded the fiction
group to get a break from home-making.
Marc Harlan of Chesapeake, an employee of Barnes & Noble, reads
Edgar Allen Poe's ``The Raven'' to a small gathering of Poe fans.
The reading was in celebration of Poe's birthday.
Graphic
UPCOMING EVENTS
Open Poetry Night. 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28. Barnes & Noble, 1212
Greenbrier Drive, Chesapeake. For more information, call 382-0220.
African Mahogany Book Club. 7 to 9 p.m. Feb. 11. Greenbrier
Library, 1214 Volvo Parkway. The group will discuss ``The Wedding''
by Dorothy West. The book club usually meets the third Tuesday of
the month. The group next meets March 18, when they will discuss
``Mama'' by Terry MacMillan. For more information, call Patricia
Butts at 543-6338 or Margaret Stone at 436-7400.
Fiction Reading Group. 7 p.m. Feb. 11. Barnes & Noble, 1212
Greenbrier Drive, Chesapeake. The group will discuss ``Cold Sassy
Tree'' by Olive Ann Burns. For more information, call 382-0220.
Poetry Night. 7 p.m., Feb. 13. Chesapeake Central Library, 298
Cedar Road. Meeting room 1. For more information, call 382-6591.
Travel Essay Book Club. 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 17. Barnes &
Noble, 1212 Greenbrier Drive, Chesapeake. The club meets the third
Tuesday of the month. Call 382-0220 for this month's topic.
History Reading Group. 7 p.m. Feb. 18. Barnes & Noble, 1212
Greenbrier Drive, Chesapeake. The group meets the third Tuesday of
the month. Call 382-0220 for this month's topic.
Chesapeake Chatters Book Club. 7 to 8 p.m. Feb. 27. Chesapeake
Central Library, 298 Cedar Road, Chesapeake. The book club meets the
last Thursday of the month, excluding major holidays. This month the
group will discuss Ernest Hemingway's ``A Farewell to Arms.'' In
March, the group will discuss ``Night'' by Elie Wiesel. In April,
the opic will be ``Flight of the Intruder'' by Stephen Koontz, who
will read from his work. For more information, call librarian Carol
McCuen 382-8300.