Duscussion Points for Book Clubs

Taken from: http://www.thereadingclub.co.uk/discussion-points-for-book-clubs.html 

One of the main aims of book clubs is to provide a forum for book lovers to talk about books they have recently read or all-time favourites; to discuss and compare interpretations and opinions, and to gain a better understanding and appreciation of the books through a communal analysis of characters, themes, setting, plot and background.
However, it can sometimes be hard to get a good, stimulating discussion going, no matter how good the book may be and no matter how keen members are. This is where having a list of good discussion points can be very helpful in keeping things focused and interesting, while still moving the discussion forward.
Here are some general discussion points which work well for a variety of novels:

Themes
- Did the book have any particular themes? - How were the themes highlighted? - Do you agree with the author’s take on the themes?- Do the themes blend well together?- Do the themes arise naturally out of the story or did they seem to be contrived?

Setting
- What was different or unique about the story’s setting?- Did the setting enhance or detract from the story?

Characters
- Were the characters realistic – could you relate to them? E.g. do they speak in the right voice for their age group or the time period of the novel?- Did you empathise with the character sand their plight?- Do the characters evolve or change in the course of the novel? Were the changes believable?

ersonal Impression- Did the book affect you in a personal way? Did you relate to the characters or circumstances on a personal level?- Did the book make you question your views on certain topics? Did you revise any opinions?- Did you gain a new awareness or a better understanding of certain topics? – - What sort of person do you think would enjoy this book?- Did you like the book’s cover design – do you think it suited the book? - Is this book a “keeper”? Would you read it again?

Style
- What do you like or dislike about the author’s style? - Would you class the style as lyrical, descriptive, objective or minimalist? - Do you think the story could have been told better if it was written from a different perspective (e.g.. first person narrative Vs third person Vs multiple viewpoints? - Did the author use imagery and symbolism? - Do you think that any literary devices used enhanced the book or were they just distracting?

Genre
- Could this book classified in a ‘genre’?- If so, does it challenge the genre stereotypes in any way?

Time
- What kind of historical time period was the story set in? Was it a realistic image of the past? - How do you think you would have behaved if you had been faced with those issues, in those times? - Do you feel the book has dated well? - If the time period is set in the future, was the book’s vision of the future credible? - Is it an optimistic or pessimistic vision of the future?

Reviews
- Do you agree with the reviews of the book? - Did you think it lived up to positive reviews or challenged negative ones?

Author
- Does the story reflect the author’s own life? Is the story autobiographical in any way?- Is the book better because the author was able to draw on his own experiences?

Future of readings

I think that read is a personal decision and each one can be decidehow to do it. Personally I enjoy reading an ink book, but the future is in hand of technology and I think the most importan is to preserve the love for reading.

Reading Clubs are interesting to people who want share their experiences about read books...

Reading Club

Reading is not just about

deciphering words – it is our

interpretation of these words that

enables us to make sense of the world

around us.

  

Reading clubs make

reading sociable. They encourage

readers to talk about the books they

love and hate – they become literary

swap shops. They build up a reading

culture, where reading a book becomes

part of the fabric of everyday life rather

than an occasional, solitary activity. 

For pupils who may be finding the

transition to secondary school

daunting, Book-it! clubs can also

provide a psychological and physical

place of quiet and safety. 

http://www.continyou.org.uk/school/files/book-it_resource 

A reading club is made to enjoy reading,

 that's the whole thing about!

Personally I like the idea that, while you are reading, 

sometimes you can eat or 

drink something in this space, in order to feel better 

and more confortable.  

Reading clubs!

 A reading club is a place where you can share what you think, like or dislike about a book to create an opportunity for people to become enthusiastic and enthralled with the wonderful world of literature.As we are learning a new language, a reading club can improve our skills like listening, speaking and so on. The Reading Club shall be dynamic to ensure that the audience’s interest is maintained. 

http://thereadingclubgonzalezgarces.blogspot.com/p/aim-of-reading-club.html

These are some of the rules I found on the Internet :

• The purpose of this book club is to read and enjoy literature! So, if you love books, and you're ready to discuss them... you're in the right place.
• You may find that you disagree with something that another member of the group has said.
• It is okay to disagree!
• Flaming and/or inappropriate behavior and/or language will not be tolerated.
• Please respect the authority of the moderator.
• Keep on topic, but feel free to introduce information that is relevant to the discussion (historical facts, bio details, book background, related authors or topics).

• If you cite copyrighted material, please appropriately reference your source(s). Also, please don't inappropriately post or distribute copyrighted material. 

http://classiclit.about.com/od/bookclubs/a/aa_bookclubrule.htm 

Reading about book clubs, and the possible activities and all that things, i think it would be interesting that all of us read a specific text, but something, that inspire us, it could be fantastic or real, topics or stories that make us speak, and share our thoughts with the others.

I think about the possibility of suggest , if you want (each student) a text, i mean, besides the teacher, we could bring or suggest a text that we consider interesting to discuss, and every time that we read, we could do pronunciation exercises , and find mistakes and correct the partners or classmates, in that way i think we could learn from the others. 

Good Afternoon to everyone!!!

I just found this article. It is an experience about creating a Book Club project for reluctant
readers at Asheville Middle School. It could give us a nice perspective as future teachers. 

Thank you.

http://www.ncmsa.net/journal/PDF/Feb08/Book-clubs.pdf

ABOUT READING CLUBS

WHAT IS A READING CLUB

a reading club or a book club consists of several members who meet in person each month to talk about a specific work. Traditional reading clubs offer the benefit of having all members in the same room, which makes for a much more personal and intimate experience. Since most traditional book clubs are somewhat small in size, each member typically has more control over what books are selected to read (often members will vote on a list of suggested titles that have been submitted or take turns selecting).

BASIC GROUND RULES

Members who haven’t read the book
Come anyway. Not everyone can finish every book, but non-readers may still have valuable insights.

Disagreements about the book
Be gracious! There is no one way to experience or interpret a book. In fact, differing opinions are good.

Members who prefer to socialize
Be gentle but firm. Insist that discussion time be limited to the book. Some clubs hold book discussions first and invite "social members" to join afterward.

Dominating personalities
Never easy. “Let’s hear from some others” is one approach. Some clubs pass an object around the room; you talk only when you hold the object. If the person continues to dominate, a friendly conversation (never e-mail) might work. If all fails, sometimes they've just got to go—for the good of the club.

HOW TO LEAD A DISCUSSIONhttp://wiki.bssd.org/images_up/a/a8/Suggested_Book_Club_Activities.pdf

1. Toss one question at a time out to the group.
   
   
2. Select a number of questions, write each on an index card, and pass them out. Each member (or team of 2 or 3) takes a card and answers the question.
    
3. Use a prompt (an object) related to the story. It can help stimulate members' thinking about some aspect of the story. It's adult show & tell. (Think maps, photographs, paintings, food, apparel, a music recording, a film sequence.) 
   
   
4. Pick out a specific passage from the book—a description, an idea, a line of dialogue—and ask members to comment on it. (Consider how a passage reflects a character...or the work's central meaning...or members' lives or personal beliefs.) 
   
   
5. Choose a primary character and ask members to comment on him or her. (Think character traits, motivations, how he/she affects the story's events and characters, or revealing quotations.)
   
   
6. Distribute hand-outs to everyone in order to refresh memories or to use as talking points. Identify the primary characters and summarize the plot.  
   
   
   
   
   HOW TO PARTIPATE IN A BOOK DISCUSSION
   
   
   1. Watch your language! Try to avoid words like "awful" or "idiotic"—even "like" and "dislike." They don't help move discussions forward and can put others on the defensive. Instead, talk about your experience—how you felt as you read the book. 
   
   
    2. Don't be dismissive. If you disagree with someone else, don't refer to her as an ignoramus. Just say, "I'm not sure I see it that way. Here's what I think." Much, much nicer. 
   
   
    3. Support your views. Use specific passages from the book as evidence for your ideas. This is a literary analysis technique called "close reading." 
   
   
    4. Read with a pencil. Takes notes or mark passages that strike you—as significant or funny or insightful. Talk about why you marked the passages you did.
   
   

March 22nd, tasks for today!

Dear students:

*We said we will start functioning as a Reading Club. Search the web to look for information about Reading Clubs, their purposes, activities and policies and share what you consider relevant for us.

*Read this article, explore the hyperlinks and watch the video. It will nourish our reflections about reading in contemporary societies:
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/considering-the-future-of-reading-lessons-links-and-thought-experiments/

*The following are two short-stories for our first Reading Club section (Tuesday, April 2):

Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield
Prue by Alice Munro

(A copy is already available in our building)

Perfume, the movie, 2006

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqk9MTP9tMU

The Night Circus trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgQItoeXjjI

THE GLASS CASTLE (VIDEO)

THE GLASS CASTLE (VIDEO)

Hi girls, since I didn't have the chance to show you the video, here you have it in case you're interested in watch it ....

Review-March 19th

Dear students:
-Remember that you must bring a copy of your review for each of your classmates. (We are 13)
-Be ready for a 10 minutes oral presentation of the book you chose.
-Your review should be between 700 and 1000 words.

El Perfume, by Patrick Suskind, Review

"El Perfume"

By Patrick Süskind

Review 

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is an uncommon character who is made for people that love different and excellent jobs, Grenouille is a particular and, most of all, a bizarre man whose life is not a banal one and whose desires are not the one that people use to have. Coldness is the word that describes Jean-Baptiste, that is an abominable man whose mind is a kind of wicked, however with that wicked mind he can do a lot of astounding things and those things are done by this zealous guy that during all his wretched life is looking for his place in that world that does not seem to be made for him.

This is an unforgettable character was created by Patrick Süskind in El Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (1985) who is a German writer and screenwriter, and who is recognized for this magnificent book which was made into a film in 2006 by Tom Tykwer and is the only story of his to have reached the cinema to date. With more than 12 million copies sold and translations into 46 languages, he is probably the most well-known contemporary German writer in the world. In this sumptuous book Patrick Süskind go back to the Bildungsroman that is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist, that in this case is called Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, from youth to adulthood and in which change is thus extremely important.

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille a guy who was rejected since the first second on his life, neither his mother nor people would care about him, his mother was a cold woman who have killed three other sons and who did not care about killing another, that in this case was Grenouille, but, fortunately for some ones and unfortunately for some others, he did not die, he could not do it, he was unique, he was the only one in his specie. Odors were his entire life, he can describe the odor of whatever the perceive in the environment, that was striking for me I do not know, and I truly admire, the way Patrick narrate with exquisite description that is unique and that makes me feel frustrated, because I cannot describe something the way he does it, is something that impress me, since description is vivid and the story is compelling.

It was the first interesting novel that I read, I was eighteen years old and I have to say that there is not a better way to start reading good literature. I love the way it starts presenting an abominable person and you start to perceive the tasty way you get involved in this master piece and you continue reading and for me it was impossible to stop I loved the terrific way he did murder, it was full of passion and curiousness. Almost the whole book is narrated in third person and I never get fatigued of it.

El perfume narrates the story of a murderer who is mad about odors, and most of all, about teenagers odor, he starts being a poor and wretched man but, with the time and having a really low profile, he turn in an important person who people admire and he have all the power he want to, but he just want to have an odor because unfortunately he does not have one, which is a big paradox, so he decided to assassinate little virgin girls to keep her aroma and to have all them together and to have the best fragrance in the world.    

By the other hand, in terms of content, in this book we can see a lot of subjects like personal identity, self-esteem and social exclusion, those thing that everybody know but it is the most authentic way to show those aspects. In this book Grenouille in playing a game where he wants to be God because using his power of perfect smelling he could charm every human been he want to.

I recommend this book to people that really want to have a good experience a vivid experience because I think that nobody is going to be repentant about reading this outstanding book, it is without doubt a book to be desired.   

By: Ludy Tatiana Giraldo Dávila