Monday, October 13, 2008

Dark Sun Glasses and Floppy Hats Now a Must For Chapter Chatters!



"Chapter Chat" was interviewed by "Book Browse" and here is part of that interview


Hello Carrin, thanks for taking the time to chat. First off, please tell us a bit about Chapter Chat.
We've been together in our current format for 8 years, but some of us have been reading together for 15 years. We have 16 on our e-mail list but typically 8-12 show up for any given month. We are in our 40's and 50's, all women. Our core started as a Mom's Group at our church, but we have since taken jobs, sent kids off to college, had surprise babies, grandchildren, divorces and marriages. Like most groups of women we have been there for each other through cancer, deaths in the family, and general support and laughter.


So how did it get started?
My friend Nancy and I started a book club at our church in 1992. It went for a few years and we relaunched it with our moms group in 1998. A couple of years later, as the two of us sat looking at each other and only each other, for the third month in a row we determined to figure out what we were doing wrong and start a book club that was exceptional. We began visiting other successful book clubs, and interviewed as many as we could to figure out what the "it" factor was to make a book club successful.


And what was the "it factor you discovered?"
We learned two major things:
Meet on a consistent night. Passionate readers will schedule around the book club.
Meet in homes because when a meeting is hosted by a church or library it's so easy to think…'Oh there will be other people there, I don't have to go" etc. Adding dessert and wine didn't hurt either!

1 comment:

Carrin Mahmood said...

Just read the profile/interview about your book club. This is a terrific blog!

Wishing you continued success in the years ahead. Happy reading!
Sherry at
http://www.blogger.com/profile/11729481398674065286