You can read between the lines.
But you can also read between the wines. I found that in my recent visit to a book club.
I visited the Tokyo Ebisu Book Club, one that is near my office.
They meet on the first Monday of the month for the last 20 years at a pub called Footnik.
20 years! That’s just amazing. I coordinate a couple of book clubs, and I know how difficult it is to get people to read, complete the book, and gather them for discussion.
I visited the club as I was hunting for a group, where I could nurture fiction reading. Most of the book groups I am associated with are heavy on non-fiction. And since my doctoral journey in OB (Organizational Behavior), I also tilted toward non-fiction. (Organizational behavior is applied psychology in the business context. A course often taught to MBA first-year folks)
But I want to be regular with fiction.
I started recently with one of the book groups and read a couple of great fiction (Wonder, Man Called Ove). But for some reason, this book group will not function anymore. And I want to continue with fiction.
The need pushed me to look at fiction readers.
I liked the cozy, small set-up of this Tokyo Ebisu book group.
They use pub space to meet. It’s common in Japan to meet and hang out at pubs, but not so common back in Pune (My hometown). There is no charge to attend. But as a courtesy to the pub – you are expected to buy a drink. I realized even soft drink prices are almost the same as book costs on Amazon India. (That also reminded me of the nudge someone recently tried -comparing pizza cost with book club cost!). Many members had their quick dinner bytes before the meeting started. And I had coffee, later some soft drinks, and snacks.
Online at the meet-up, you can see a large number of members – 2223 (as of 5th Sept 2024), but for the meet-up at Footnik around 15 to 16 members were present.
I feel 15 to 20 members in a monthly meeting is a good number for a book discussion. Around the same number attend the meetings in the book group that I coordinate,
The book discussed was “The god of small things”. It’s the Booker Award winner. The author is popular and always in debates in India (I borrowed the book from another book-lover).
Including myself – there were two Indians in the group, so many questions were directed at us. The book is situated in an Indian context.
They sit around tables, so again a smaller group. They discussed the book. Their perspectives, opinions, comments. And I quickly got, they are all veteran fiction readers.
Various book names discussed are captured on the piece of paper. This helps the group to select future books.
A prompt or set of questions was also prepared, just in case the group gets stalled. But nobody looked at them. Someone just glanced at them once.
I hadn’t completed the book but still enjoyed the discussion. And could participate meaningfully. However, it was clear -that one can enjoy deeply if one has read the book. (I am reading the next book – Kairos – again the Booker Award winner).
The group is mostly non-Indians, but they concluded that the book doesn’t look representative of Indian society and culture! (That’s the same criticism many Indians have about this book and the author)
Footnik’s small cozy corner – had a screen and projector. So arrangement is there to use presentation. But it wasn’t used in this meeting.
It was a lovely evening.
I plan to visit sometime again.
And pick up the vibes for other book groups that I coordinate.
It’s a good way to dive deep into the world of fiction.
I too can learn to read between the lines of fiction.
And can have lots of coffee, as I don’t drink wine.
