Updated Citywide Book Clubs Listing Adds Another 41 Initiatives

The citywide book club trend, which began in Seattle six years ago, continues its remarkable popularity, with new community-reading initiatives sprouting up around the nation at an amazing pace. When BTW first published a listing of citywide book club initiatives in March 2002, there were 45 community-reading events listed. Eleven months later, the number has almost tripled, and now lists 124 cities, counties, or states that have organized (or are organizing) events that encourage communities to read the same book at the same time.

BTW's fourth update of the Book Club list includes 41 new initiatives, as well as a number of revisions reflecting changes in book club programs. As in prior updates, the new book club listings were culled from two sources: the numerous e-mails sent to us from both librarians and booksellers and a similar listing on the Library of Congress' Web site, www.loc.gov/cfbook/.

Also, BTW worked with the Washington Center for the Book at the Seattle Public Library (WCB) to put together the initial listing of 45 Citywide Book Clubs. To see the new listings of Citywide Book Clubs, click here. To see the full listing, click here.

One such citywide book club new to the list is Bangor Reads!, a community-reading initiative, which began last year and is held each January in Bangor, Maine. Organized by the Bangor Public Library, the community-wide reading initiative featured The Killer Angels (Ballantine), by Michael Shaara in 2002. This year's Bangor Reads!, which started January 4, features The Maine Woods (Penguin USA) by Henry David Thoreau.

"Last year's [citywide book club] was deemed a success," Barbara McDade, director of the Bangor Public Library, told BTW via e-mail. "Both our independent bookstores and Border's said they sold many more copies of The Killer Angels than expected. Our programs were all well attended."

Thus far, Bangor Reads! is getting a good response from members of the community, McDade reported. A local television station is running a public service announcement regarding the initiative. Additionally, the library will be scheduling a number of programs to be held in conjunction with the citywide book club, she noted. One such event took place Tuesday, January 7. "We did a reading of the play The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail by Lawrence & Lee," she said. "We had seven actors representing all the acting companies in the city, and an attorney to discuss the legal implications of civil disobedience. It was a hit!"

The Bangor Public Library will organize 16 more programs to be held in conjunction with Bangor Reads!, including discussion groups and special guest speakers (for a listing of the programs, click here). "Everyone thinks [The Maine Woods] is a good book to read," she said.

If your citywide book club is not listed, or if the details of your community's book club effort need to be changed, please contact David Grogan, BTW associate editor, via e-mail at dave@bookweb.org. Also, for those bookstores, libraries, or other groups looking to help launch a community book club, click here for book club tips adapted from WCB's "Building a Citywide Book Club." --David Grogan