Starting a Group & Leading a Discussion
Before you start talking:
Read carefully so that you can formulate good solid questions about the book and jot them down as you read. Take notes about points that particularly interest you, ones that you feel will lead to a good discussion.
To be an effective, considerate participant in a group discussion:
- Listen thoughtfully to other's points of view.
- Be brief. Share the discussion with others.
- Come with questions in mind.
Ask thought-provoking questions:
- Offer questions that are as open-ended as possible.
- Talk about ideas, not the plot.
- What seem to be the most important themes in the book?
- What are the most important relationships between characters?
- Discussion of important scenes help to recreate the book and bring it clearly to the forefront of the group.
- It can be very interesting to talk about a book's flaws. If the book has problems, what were they?
Ten good questions to get discussing going:
- What do you think the title means?
- Why do you think the author opened the book this way?
- Did the jacket copy give you a fair idea of what the book would be like?
- What other books that the group has read could this one be compared to?
- How autobiographical do you think this book is?
- Are the male or the female characters more vividly and fully drawn?
- Why has the author chosen this particular narrator? Can you imagine this story told in a different voice?
- Under what conditions did various members read the book (all in one sitting, short hits each night at bedtime, on the train, etc.)? Was this a good or bad way to read it?
- Did this book make you want to read anything else by the same author? Why or why not?
- Who picked the book and why?
(From The Reading Group Book. David Laskin and Holly Hughes. Plume, 1995.)
Areas to cover in "doing" a book:
- Context and background. When did the author live? What other books and intellectual movements were in the air then? How important was this book in the author's career?
- Meaning of the text. What happened in the book? What was the author trying to do with the book? Entertain? Reform society? Exorcize personal demons? Can you identify any messages--political, moral, social--that the author was trying to get across.
- Content. What new things did you learn from reading this book?
- Technique. Describe the author's style and whether it works or not. How would you describe the author's "voice"? What role do symbols and metaphors play? What about the book's strncture?
- Appreciation. Relate to the book on a gut level. How did it make you feel? Being able to discuss this with friends is a big part of the book group experience.
- Anecdotes. Smaller and more intimate groups often enjoy exchanging memories and reflections inspired by the book. Part of the joy of a book discussion group (as opposed to a formal literature class) is that these types of comments are all fair game just so long as they are related back to the work at hand.
(Also from The Reading Group Book)
New York Public Library Book Discussion Model:
- Two persons act as co-leaders to facilitate discussion: one moves the discussion alone without giving his or her opinion; the other keeps an eye out to be certain everyone is included in the discussion.
- Important tenet! The emphasis is completely and only about the book at hand. The text is all. (In other words, no biographical or critical material enters into the discussion.
- Co-leaders are trained to do the following:
- ask questions that initiate, sustain, and try to conclude investigations into problems or issues found in the book.
- ask questions that challenge all unclear, factually incorrect, or contradiction statements made by participants.
- make a judgment about which statements by participants will be the most interesting to pursue. Then lead the discussion in that direction.