February 21, 2007 Meeting

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

The turnout last week was delightfully staggering. I look forward to seeing all of you and your friends this Wednesday.

This meeting will finish the process of sorting folks into smaller, more manageable groups, perhaps around certain titles (Last week I suggested Atwell’s The Robber Bride, Sontag’s Volcano Lover, and Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina. On the blog, various members have suggested: Diamant’s Red Tent, Proulx’s Wyoming Stories, Geek Love, Naslund’s Ahab’s Wife, and Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies among others). Or groups can accommodate their various schedules (there is nothing sacred about Wednesday nights). I also want to talk for just a minute or two about how to make a good book club choice, and the role of the individual group facilitators. Please feel free to append your thoughts about any of these things to this blog posting prior to our meeting.

Speaking of the blog. Many thanks to those of you who wrote in and started a discussion about books in the last weeks. For a lot of us, this is our first experience with blogging. As the reading groups form up, I will post a special area for each of you to communicate with each other, as well as continue to the handle the posts for the whole of the Betty’s List Book Club.

Note to Authors/Speakers

I've been getting a lot of letters from authors generously offering to visit the Betty's List Book Club. We will certainly be featuring authors/speakers at the monthly meetings in future, once we get all the smaller reading groups formed and up and running. I am accepting review copies of books for consideration at this address:
Cynthia Lee Katona
Professor of English
Ohlone College
P.O. Box 3909
Fremont, CA 94539
All books sent will get a careful read and a personal response.

The Job of Facilitator

I look forward to facilitating the Betty's List Book Club, and moderating the Book Club Blog. Please feel free to write to me and tell me if I am meeting your expectations, or if there is anything else I can do to make this a better experience for you.
Cynthia K

Thinking about Books

One precocious group has already chosen their book, A.S. Byatt's Little Black Book of Stories. They plan to meet at the Duboce Park Cafe on February 28, 2007.

This is the post where I would love it if participants would comment on the books they would like to see us tackle in the upcoming months. Please take the time to explain your choices. And everyone should feel free to respond to each other.

This virtual conversation about books we admire might help us form into smaller groups at the next meeting, where I hope to talk to all the groups about some of the book club habits which tend to work and give reading groups the staying power they need to become a really meaningful part of people's lives.

Book Savvy Women at the Launch

There were lots of Book Savvy women at the Duboce Park Cafe on January 31, 2007. I am looking forward to seeing you all again at the next meeting which is scheduled for February 21, 2007. If you couldn't make the first meeting, please feel free to join us at the next meeting, where we will be choosing up teams of readers, based on schedules, interests, and any other factors you think are important.

Thank You...All.

First, I want to post a huge thank you to all the folks who made the Betty's List Book Club Launch such a huge success. Betty is the Promotion Guru of all time...Bravo. Rachel Herbert has a wonderful new venue at Duboce Park Cafe...thanks so much to her for letting us have that as a convivial and convenient place to meet. And mostly, thanks to all the passionate readers who showed up to be a part of what looks like it is not going to be just a book club, but a book league, with more than one group, and lots of vitality! Cynthia K

Where it's at!

So many folks have been asking me directions, that I thought it would be helpful to publish this map. The Duboce Park Cafe is at 2 Sanchez. I look forward to seeing all of you at the Betty's List Book Club Launch, tomorrow night, January 31, 2007 at 6:30.