Getting a peek at an all-guy book club’s group chat
We asked Mark, our VP of Sales & Marketing, about the book club he belongs to, where with some of his oldest buddies he shares and receives reading recommendations.
Does your book club have a name?
We keep up on the app Signal, where the group chat is named ‘musings.’ So if the club has a name, that’s it.
How do the members know each other?
We attended and later we worked at Camp Ponacka over twenty years back -- and we’ve been friends ever since.
Do you all see each other outside of the book club – or is the club the ritual that brings you together?
We do, but during the pandemic the group chat became our central meeting place.
How do you choose books? Have you gotten the club to read one of your picks?
Generally we share a lot of articles, songs, podcasts and of course books with each other. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen was one of my picks and it was a hit. I’d read it years ago and insisted that they not miss out on it.
What’s the key to a good book club pick?
For us, there isn’t a set formula. From non-fiction to comedy, new and old -- we're pretty open. Though not everything gets read. One passionate cryptocurrency enthusiast has pushed quite strongly -- more than once -- for us to read Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Antifragile. I still need to get around to reading that one.
What’s the best book you’ve discovered through the book club?
I enjoyed getting into a couple of Patrick deWitt’s books, Undermajordomo Minor and French Exit, over the holidays. I’m currently reading The Premonition by Michael Lewis. He never disappoints. ◼