Have you ever read the very last sentence of a book and thought to yourself, ‘Gee, I’d like to tell everybody about this book, I could NOT put it down’ or ‘yuck, was the ending terrible or what–I wonder if anyone else thought it should have had a different ending?’
You most likely have had these or similar thoughts after having read many a book. People have long known that reading as a solitary experience is not quite as satisfying as reading as a shared experience; hence, the impetus for book clubs.
Of course, books were not readily available to the general public until after the invention of the printing press. Even then, it would be several hundred years until people could check out a novel or a non-fiction for no cost at a public library. The plethora of public libraries in the United States is the result of generous funding by Andrew Carnegie, who built more than 1500 lending libraries in this country. Binding books was a laborious undertaking, and the typical household did not own many books. It wasn’t until after World War II that paperbacks were published, usually reprints of bound hardback books. Now the debate rages between e-book lovers and those who want to hold an actual book and turn the pages manually.
As to the origin of book clubs, not surprisingly, in 1727, Benjamin Franklin organized what is thought to be the first literary society in the colonies. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, several women’s literary societies met in the United States on a regular basis to discuss non-fiction, poetry and other manuscripts. By the 1900’s, church and civic organizations had established reading groups all around the country. With the founding of The Literary Guild and the Book-of-the-Month Club, people began to collect books in their homes as well as checking them out from libraries all over the country. It wasn’t until 1974 that Book-of-the-Month started their paperback business. A few years later, many retailers carried books and discount bookstores capitalized on the popularity of reading as a pleasant pastime as well as a way to stay informed.
Many of you may have read Helen Hooven Santmyer’s And Ladies of the Club. Santmyer was 87 years old when the book was published in 1984. The author had always wanted to write the fictional story of a women’s book club that met for years—a club where the women formed close relationships and reached out to better their community. Despite it’s length of over 1000 pages, the book was a best seller and inspired small groups around the country to form clubs that met to discuss books. Of course today we have Oprah’s thoughtful suggestions and Amazon’s speedy delivery not to mention the advent of digitized books available from the library or purchase. An overwhelming percentage of the estimated six million book clubs in this country have an all-female membership.
Kiawah Island has two ‘official’ book clubs–one sponsored by KICA, the homeowner’s association and other sponsored by the Kiawah Island Club. This blog is not officially connected to either book club although the blog’s author is a co-chair of the KICA bookclub, also known as the Sandcastle Book Club. In addition, bookclubs at Seabrook Island and Briar’s Creek exist as does one that meets at John’s Island Library. Many neighborhoods have formed book clubs, which are generally smaller than the before mentioned and purposefully so. These neighborhood book groups typically have limited membership.