Alton Hadlock admits he's in it for the excitement.
When his club gets together, he says, "It's thrilling."
Thrilling? The word leads one to think this is a club for motorcycle racers. Or hang-gliding aficionados. Or to surmise perhaps that Hadlock's little group plays poker for high stakes.
But no. His group reads books - then talks about them.
Hadlock is one of thousands of Utah thrill-seekers who belong to a book club.
The thrill, he says, comes from seeing life in a new way. Hadlock's hooked on looking at the world not from the highest peak or in a blur of speed, but from inside another's mind.
"You learn the author can be interpreted in many ways," says Hadlock. "The discussion makes one have a more open mind and, above all, respect other's opinions."
His circle has been meeting twice a month for 25 years. They study the classics, using the national Great Books Foundation books and topics. For September, they'll read Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and Homer's Iliad. The discussions will be lively and enlightening. "All these readings are proven," Hadlock explains. The classics never disappoint.
Other book groups have other specialities. Some read only non-fiction. One group reads only in Spanish.
Barbara Hoagland belongs to a mystery book club.
"We are bound together by that love of mysteries," she says. The mystery genre is satisfying, Hoagland says, because the plot is a puzzle and because at the end of a good mystery, unlike in real life, everything is explained and neatly wrapped up.
Most groups are less specific about genre, but more specific about members. There are women's book clubs, men's book clubs, couples' book clubs - even a children's club started this summer in Salt Lake City.
Two years ago, Susan Paris started three book clubs at the Women's Resource Center at the University of Utah. She figured that staff and students could benefit from making new friends and having the support of a group - without joining a support group. An unexpected plus, she says, "is I'm reading books I ordinarily wouldn't read."
"There must be over 100 book clubs in this valley," estimates Betsy Burton, owner of the King's English Bookstore. "I give talks to book clubs and I see 40 a year."
Burton watches book clubs come and go. The ones that last, she says, are peopled by those with a passion for literature. "For a book club to succeed, the members have to be curious and not just want to be entertained. If they read escape literature, they don't talk much about the books. There's nothing to say."
The most famous literary circle in Utah is the Ladies Literary Club. The Ladies Literary Club, according to its president, Vi Carter, is the oldest literary club west of the Mississippi and the only one that owns its own clubhouse (a beautiful place on South Temple).
Since it began, in 1877, the club has had as many as 500 members at a time. These days there are 170 members and literature is only a small part of the club's cultural, charitable and political endeavors. Carter says, "Our big push is recycling aluminum."
The Ladies Literary Club is like most traditional book clubs, in which one member reads the book and others listen politely as she reviews it.
Modern members prefer the more boisterous interchange that comes about when everyone has read the book and has something to say.
The typical club, according to Patrick De Freitas, is all-female, with members under 50 years of age. De Freitas, who owns Waking Owl Books in Salt City, says,"I rarely see a man there when I speak to book clubs. It's a curious phenomenon. Maybe for some reason men don't wish to join, or maybe women don't want men in a group because they might dominate the discussion."
Hadlock has listened, patiently, while both men and women dominate. "If you stop them in the middle of those big harangues, sometimes they get angry. You let them run their course and you say politely, `Well now you have given your opinion; I wonder if someone else has something to say?' They get what you mean pretty soon."
Do men dominate the discussion in Jean Bentley's couples group? Maybe just a bit, she says. "But the women in the group are really bright. They don't feel intimidated."
And Bentley, who belongs to a women's book group as well as this couples group that's been meeting for 12 years, says if she could only belong to one group, she'd choose the couples'.
"We read more seriously in that group. We read Shakespeare, Russian novelists. . . . We study the books, look for character development, techniques of writing. . . ."
The best part about the club, she says, is reading with her husband, Frank. Sometimes the Bentleys buy two copies of the book. If it's a paperback and one spouse has a good start on it, they'll rip it in half so the other spouse can start reading, too.
"This club has enriched our marriage," Bentley says. "It gives us something to talk about besides children and how the house is falling apart."
The secret to a good discussion is the right book, says De Freitas. "Clearly, there's a difference between a good read and something that stirs discussion. `The Joy Luck Club' by Amy Tan is the kind of book that stirs up good talk."
The secret is a wild mix of people, says Cliff Butter. His all-male group includes two writers, a mechanic, a luggage handler, two lawyers, a research analyst, a TV technical manager and an epidemiologist.
"One person brings a selection of books that we might want to read for the next meeting and we vote. We've read everything from obscure Czechoslovakian authors to Ken Kesey.
"Our group's been meeting for coming up on two years. We've never been wanting for words."
*****
(Additional information)
Looking for good books to talk about?
- Ask your local librarian or bookseller for advice.
- Call the Utah Humanities Resource Center, 359-9670. For $20 per group per year, the center will furnish a reading list and as many copies of the books as you need. The center will include discussion questions - even speakers. It now has 25 copies of at least 80 different books. If you live off the Wasatch Front, the center will mail the books.
- For information about the Great Books program, call Albertha Western, Division of Continuing Education, University of Utah, 581-6233.
Looking for good folks to talk with?
- The Women's Resource Center at the University of Utah will be starting a book group this fall. Call 581-8030.
- The Utah Humanities Resource Center and the National Endowment for the Humanities sponsor book discussions (usually films and speakers are part of the the series, too) at public libraries throughout the state. Anyone may participate. Call 359-9670.