About us
This is a co-ed book discussion group (doesn’t that sound a bit less dorky than book club?!). We meet in person once a month in the Rochester area. The books will be from every genre—non-fiction to Oprah’s list to literary classics, sometimes heavy, sometimes light. Book selections will be based on members’ suggestions. May the conversation and wine both flow freely:)
FREQUENTLY-ASKED QUESTIONS
How are books selected?
To join, all members list three books they haven’t read yet but are interested in reading. These are added to our group’s list of books to read.
From this list, organizers select a book for each month. We try to vary it so that, for example, we don’t have two biographies in a row.
This method saves us all a lot of time trying to decide what the next book will be.
At least a month in advance, I’ll post the next month’s book selection.
This way, members have enough time to obtain the book and read it.
We usually aim to pick books that aren’t published within the last year. That way, they’re cheaper and are more-easily available for those who want to check out of the library😊
When do we meet?
Second Thursday of every month, 630pm – 830pm.
Where are the meetups held?
The meetings are usually held at a member’s home. By not meeting in public places, we don’t have to deal with venues that may be too crowded for us to get good seating or too noisy for us to hear each other. It also allows us to drink wine vis a vis a library:)
For each month, a member volunteers to host that month’s meeting at his/her home. The location usually changes every month so a different member can volunteer to host a different month. That way, hosting duties don’t fall on one member.
About 3 days before the meetup, I’ll send the location details to the members who RSVPd yes. That way, location details won’t be made public online.
Occasionally, we may opt to meet at a public venue.
Who is providing food/drink?
Organizers and hosts won’t be formally organizing or providing any food or drink.
Members can feel free to bring any drinks or edibles if they want, but there’s no obligation to do so.
If you’re rushing from work to get to the meetup on time, just show up. We want the presence of your mind and thoughts more than a food offering.
That said, I’ll likely always bring an inexpensive bottle of wine and some chocolaty tidbit:)
How much are we going to talk about the book vs how much do we socialize?
Generally we socialize for first 20 minutes while we wait for everyone to arrive.
I’ll bring questions about the book to get the conversation going, but please do bring your own questions to make it more interesting.
If you want to volunteer to be the one to bring some questions for a particular book, feel free to let me know to save me the trouble of bringing them.
We do tend to discuss the book for at least 1 to 1.5 hours, with more socializing and side conversations thereafter.
Why are only 8 people allowed to sign up for each meeting?
Each group meeting is limited to 8 members. That way, we don’t have too many people talking over each other, or, worse, some people not being heard.
Plus that way we can fit in homes.
The first 8 members to RSVP yes to a meeting get the 8 slots. Tho only 8 will be able to sign up for each meetup, I’ll keep a waiting list in case someone who signed up can’t come.
What if I didn’t finish reading the book?
Come anyway! Our assumption is that if you like to read, you’ll probably have some cool thoughts to contribute to the conversation.
What is the RSVP policy?
If a member RSVPd yes, but then doesn’t attend, they’ll be removed from the group after this happens twice.
If a member changes an RSVP from yes to no within 72 hours for one meet up, hey, it happens; but if it happens a second time, that person can no longer be a member.
This policy is for the purpose of growing a group of consistent attendees.
It also helps the host for planning—it’s no good when 8 people say they’ll come, but only 2 show!
It also sucks when someone who wanted to come couldn’t because s/he was #9 to sign up, but then it turns out there was a no show:)
How do we decide who can join the group?
Only meetup.com members who have clear profile photos of themselves are accepted. That way, when someone shows up at our doors, we’ll be able to somewhat recognize them as a member who RSVPd yes.
Also, anyone applying to be a member has to list 3 books they’re interested in reading in order to be accepted as a member.
Couples are welcome to attend together, but each person needs to RSVP separately so that the RSVP policy can be applied to each person. Please don’t attempt to RSVP for 2 people—we could end up with 16 if we do that😊
Upcoming events
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