Chapter 6: It's not working - what do I do

You've chosen a book you think folks will love.  Heck, they've even voted for it and been super excited about the selection.  You start reading and its just a total dud.  It happens, and most of the time I'll admit one of two things happen.

First, if it's a book I'm doing with my students, well, I'm going to be honest, I quit reading it and fake it.  It's shameful, I know, I'm the leader, I'm supposed to guide them in the discussion.  But here's the deal, I know how to work around the system.  So here is what I do when I just can't finish a book and still manage to lead the discussion.  Remember this: note cards are your friend.  I will grab a handful of note cards and bring those and some pencils to the meeting.  I have each participant write down one or more questions and BAM, I have my questions for the meeting.  The irony is that most of the times, their questions are great and I've even gone back and finished some of the books.

Secondly, if it's with the faculty/staff group, well, faking it is too hard, so I just grin and bear it.  I always remind myself that not every book is for me and while I may not be enjoying it and while I may not be getting a thing out of it, they might be.  So I'll dig in and make it work.  This is where Google becomes your friend.  Google the book, questions about the book, or just maybe Google information related to it.  I promise you'll find plenty to talk about.  Also don't forget this is where giving assignments that pertain to the book also come in handy.  Turning the tables on the participants takes some of the pressure off of you.

Third, oh yeah, there is a third, I should have mentioned that.  So here is the deal - what happens when it's not just you that doesn't like the book?  I'm always pretty comfortable not finishing a book I've begun reading.  I've come to an age that I don't need to finish reading a book, because I know there are so many more out there that I'm dying to read.  When I lead discussions I always ask, if you don't like it why?  People are allowed not to like a book in my group, but they have to tell me why. 

This spring however, I started noticing more and more folks not liking the book we were doing and that is when it happened, a coup d'état.  The whole group finally admitted they hate it, and well, that's when things got real.  You know what the best part was?  It was okay.  We all had a good laugh about it and somehow the experience has bonded everyone together.  "You remember that horrible book, argh!" For the first time in leading all these book groups I've never had one where we gave up, and now I have to figure out what to do.   Thankfully I was able to make some changes in our schedule and spend one of our sessions voting and discussing our next book options for the fall. 

But here is a way to maybe help prevent this from happening for your group.  First, think about what has worked for your group in the past and go with similar themes, if it isn't broken don't fix it.  Now this doesn't mean you are allowing them to get lazy - it simply means you have to find a new book to challenge them.  Also, and here is a crazy idea, ask them what they'd like to read.  This year because of our debacle I was able to really look at what types of books they did and didn't want to read.  I was able to make selections based on that and I'm super excited about where we are heading in the coming year. 

Remember at the end of the day - it's okay to not finish a bad book - there is too much good stuff out there to be miserable!

Magpie