Talking about books is the new national sport, as any of the hoards heading to the Ennis Book Club Festival will tell you
MANY PEOPLE think Oprah Winfrey invented the book club, but the actual credit rests with an American Puritan, Anne Hutchinson, who started the first formal book club in the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1643. Oprah can, however, claim responsibility for the resurgence of the modern version, according to Frances O'Gorman, chairperson of this weekend's Ennis Book Club Festival.
"In 1996 she mentioned to her viewers that she had really enjoyed a book called The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard and sales of the book went through the roof. That was the start of the Oprah Book Club. Now influential book clubs include Richard & Judy in the UK and discussions on the Marian Finucane and Ryan Tubridy radio shows.
There are now thousands of books clubs in Ireland though the actual number is difficult to ascertain. "There are at least 30 or 40 book clubs in Ennis alone," says O'Gorman. "In libraries there are about 400 registered clubs and while it's impossible to tell how many private ones there are, it would be at least two or three times that number." Reflecting that popularity, this year's Ennis Book Club Festival programme includes a workshop on how to set one up.
O'Gorman is part of a book club herself - an informal monthly gathering of women friends. So are book clubs a female-only preserve? "Not exclusively, but it does seem that they are predominantly for women. In our case, we were a group of friends who knew each other beforehand anyway. There are about 12 of us in all but we would have maybe nine or 10 who come each month. We meet up in one another's homes."
The group doesn't have a particular method of choosing their monthly book. "There are various methods that can be used to pick the book to be discussed, but we don't have any strict rules apart from trying to always keep things varied. It's usually word of mouth or there might be a book that's prominent in the media or up for an award.
"If we have a heavy book one month, we will try to pick something lighter the next. It doesn't have to be a novel either; we have covered non-fiction, including plays and poetry. The whole joy of a book club is that it encourages you to go outside your regular pattern of reading."
ALTHOUGH THE DATE for the meeting varies month-to-month, the format remains the same. "We meet at 8.30pm and start with a glass of wine, a few nibbles and a chat to get settled in. Some books we will cover in 15 minutes, but with others it will take an hour or more. It always amazes me that you have one book and you get to hear so many different opinions on it. Sometimes you have a book that just splits us down the middle. Some people will love it, some hate it."
Asked to pick a book that prompted a unanimous verdict, she opts for Irene Nemirovsky's account of life in occupied France, Suite Francaise. "People just loved that book. We talked about it for hours and hours."
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to organising a book club, though O'Gorman recommends keeping the group relatively small.
"Size-wise, eight to 10 people is probably enough. Some clubs would have up to 20 or 30 people but I think that if it's too big, it tends to splinter and you have little groups of twos and threes discussing the book separately. Clubs establish their own guidelines as they discover what suits them."
O'Gorman is passionate about the club's social benefits. "Reading is usually a solitary activity but with a book club you get a lot more from each book you read. It doesn't just end with the turning of the final page. It's also a great way of socialising. If you were new to an area, joining a book club would be a way to meet people quickly. It's about far more than books - people make friendships, too.
"Occasionally our group would go to the cinema, especially if there was a film version of a book. We went to see Girl with a Pearl Earring and we've been to some plays."
For information on starting or joining a book club in your area, contact your local library. The Library Council has a section on its website dedicated to book clubs, which lists county-by-county clubs running in libraries around Ireland.
See www.library.ie/blog/book-clubs-and- reading-groups. Ennis Book Club Festival's website is www.ennisbookclubfestival.com.