 your host of books, books, books, a show with think tech Hawaii, where we will discuss everything about books, whether it's reading them, writing them, or everything in between. Today, we are going to focus on what makes a book club great. And I have three experts, well for including myself, who I promise you are going to share their secrets with you, because book clubs are wonderful. I have Mihaila Stoops, I have Diane Pure, and I have Gretchen Andrews. Welcome, ladies. How are you? We're excited to be here. Fabulous. And I'm excited to have you too, because I know most of you, because I run the West Mali book club, and you've either been members for the entire duration since 2005, or you've been in and out of the club since 2005. So it's very exciting to, to share this evening with you. So let's start with Mihaila. Tell us a little bit about your book club, the one that you represent, and about yourself. Well, thank you for including me in this discussion, first of all. And secondly, at one time, I think I was engaged in four different book clubs. So I am a book club junkie. And that is because I love reading. You know, you and the book club that you're managing West Mali book club has been quite an inspiration for me was the first book club that I've ever attended. And in addition to that, together with Diane, who's also a guest on the show today, we manage the great decisions, discussion group under the Foreign Policy Association. I also attend the Maui Prep book club. And I had, I'm actually just started a book club within Colwell Banker Island Properties. So that's what I do. My goodness, that's a lot of book clubs. But for an avid reader, wonderful. Diane Pure, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you relate to books. Okay, I've been on West in West Maui for the past 20 years. And I've been one of the original members of West Maui book club. And it's my full time book club, along with also being part of Great Decisions, I'm the administrator, we follow our leader, Mihaila. And I'm also part of part time with three other book clubs. So you might say that I'm a bit of a junkie too. Also, I'm very active in the community for charities and other events that are going on in the community is sort of cord, coconut wireless. I'll agree with that. Well, I don't know what we do without you because you keep us all connected and informed on important issues that are happening. So we thank you for that. Gretchen Andrews, welcome from the island of Hilo, I mean, the island of Hilo, the city of Hilo on the island of big the on the back. Tell us about yourself. Thank you. Thank you for including me in this book club is my my book club is a little more unique. I am Gretchen Andrews. I am a librarian here at the Hilo Public Library. I work for the Hawaii State Public Library system. And I've had my brain for youth services, which is the children's department and the teen department. And my book club that I'm going to be talking to you guys about today is called the Hilo Hilo book club and Hilo Hilo is Hawaiian for read or to be a reader. And this book club had originally started as a Newberry Quiz Bowl book club about 30 or so years ago and just recently during the pandemic, the change over came to modify the format. And I'm going to be talking about that today. And this is a book club open to children in grades four through seven. And we do compete and it is only for the big island. So I'll be talking more about that as well. Thank you. I'm so excited to find you. I have to say, when you told me about this book club for children, I said, you have just got to be with us. You've got to talk to us. And so I'm so happy you're here. How do the children? I mean, how do the children react? Are they enthusiastic? I mean, tell us more about the Newberry. Well, it started out as a Newberry book club quiz quiz bowl. And it was began. It's actually started from a librarian for school many, many years ago. And it just carried on. And when I became a librarian here about nine years ago, I've been on I've had this team for nine years. And of course, it rotates. The the actual quiz bowl was something we would prepare for. So we would have the list of all the John Newberry award winning books. And what we would do is we would read them and discuss them. And it is evolved now because of the changing times to have this quiz bowl now be with different books. We have graphic novels on the list. Now we have the Nene award winning books, which is the the awards the children of Hawaii pick. And we also have Newberry honors and Newberry awards. So when we get together, we talk about these books. And we discuss the aspects of the books on the list that we get every year for the quiz period. And we discuss them and we kind of make up questions as if you would for a lib guide or if you were in a book club and you have your own questions that you can pull off of somewhere. The I actually have the kids make their own questions to answer because they actually have to answer questions on the books at the quiz bowl. So this gives them an opportunity to be their own quiz masters within the team. I just imagine that must be so exciting for children to be introduced to books that way and book discussion. Diane and Mihaila with the great decisions. It's a different type of book club as well. It's not your always referred to the craft macaroni and cheese where the book club ladies are sitting there eating the kids macaroni and cheese and you know he's staring at them. You're eating my cheese and you're reading a book called Betrayal by Timothy Scott, you know. So your book club is different. Tell us about it. Either one of you, please. Mihaila, why don't you start? Well, we essentially discuss eight topics per year and the topics are very diverse, but primarily within the realm of current affairs could be anything from food security in the world to China's involvement in Africa to Joe Biden's policy, industrial policy. So very diverse topics and a little more on the serious side. I think we have three PhDs amongst us and it's a combination of men and women. The average age tends to be I believe is somewhere in the mid to late 60s. So there isn't much discussion outside of the topic itself. There's no whining and no timing either. Diane, would you like to add to that? I'd say when they come, when our members come, they are prepared. We have some PhDs who are professors. So this is an opportunity for them to lend us their knowledge and as a result also we have one thing we all have in common. We've either lived overseas or we have traveled extensively. So that everybody has a frame of reference more internationally, which is very helpful because a lot of our discussions are about experience, about topics that are international. And so it makes for a very challenging time to the point where the discussions are so intense that they really enjoy doing this. And after we finish our eight discussions, we usually have two more and it's among the group and you'll have one or two people who will take on that challenge and already I have requests for discussion in the other two months. So we take off for December, I believe, but that's what we do. So it's a very intense group and very challenging and boy you better do your homework. Correct. I'm with the West Maui Book Club and we are your typical book club except for COVID sending us into Zoomland and Zoom has worked out very well for us. We meet every six to eight weeks. We also have some PhDs in our group in and out that have come in God and we are a full ladies group. So represented today is a ladies group, a men's and women's group, and a children's group and I want their viewers to understand that. Book clubs are for everyone. Now I've been going with mine since 2005. I think Diane you're also and Mihaila you might have been also in the Kapalua Book Club. So we are all avid readers and we love to read. One of the questions that was posed is what is because we want to get to the secrets of a book club. That is to a great book club and that's this what we want to talk about on this show. So what do you think is the purpose of a book club that lends to the secrets that you've developed and we're going to talk about those secrets next. So what do you what do you think is the purpose of a book club? Anybody want to speak first? I'll go. Okay Gretchen please. I think engagement. I think engaging with the book and then engaging with others and expressing your opinion. I think that's a really important thing and to empower readers. For me it's the younger readers so to start them young is is to just evolve them into the book clubs of tomorrow which which are like your own. Diane you had your finger up. Yes I think like Gretchen said it's a very way a very good way of meeting your new neighbors and meeting new people. So from a social point of view it's very important especially if you're one who's moved a lot. It's a way to break the ice. The other is sharing ideas. The other is book suggestions. People will suggest books that you'd never think of and it makes it very enriching and I always look forward to that. I agree. Mihaila. Well I also appreciate all the new things I learned through a book club and it could be a new way to look at an author or the story or the writing. It could be just new information altogether. So I appreciate what I learned from the book club as well. I agree with that as well. Here's another thing that you can think about. I can't tell you how many times I've asked the book club did you enjoy the book? Some people give a thumbs up, some people give a thumbs down, some people give a thumb across and those are the most exciting times to talk about books because when one person did not enjoy a particular book but somebody else did enjoy a particular book you walk away, both sides walk away, with a different understanding. When we start discussing them everybody has a different point of view and when you can share those point of views it makes for the most dynamic discussions. The hardest ones for me when I'm monitoring our group is when everybody loves the book. I need a little bit of controversy to keep it very exciting and I think that's one of the secrets to a great book club is having diversity in the group, books that stimulate the mind, stimulate opinion, that share some context about life that we've either experienced or have experienced in different ways. Anybody agree with that? I couldn't agree more. You nailed it. You need a little diversity and what I like about what's my book club is that we see certain ladies two months out of the year and other ladies 12 months out of the year so the group changes so there's new ideas, there's new people and I think that if you have the same I don't know, seven, eight people that may expect they know what they'll hear this or that from the other book club member and it's more exciting when you hear something new, you're challenged to think in a different way and it's hard to do so when it's the same people. I agree. Gretchen, what is the greatest gift that you get from your book club? The stimulating conversation from the children because they will tell me how they really feel. They will tell me why they like the book, why they didn't and then they begin to engage with each other and I love watching that engagement as young people kind of go through that motion of defending the book and saying why they liked it or saying why they didn't really like it and have that conversation with each other. But it's a nice civilized conversation and they really have it. You can tell when the children really have a passion for the book when they like to stand up for what they believe in some of the threads and the topics of the book because in the quiz bowl Liz, we do have some historical fiction for children. We have some true stories, some biographies. We have all different kinds of genres in this book club and not every book is for everybody and I know personally from being in book clubs myself sometimes I don't even want to read the book and I'll open up the meeting with okay, what did everybody think of the book and sometimes they'll just say find it and read it and it's not homework and they're not creative but they're very honest about it and it's it's so fulfilling for me to see them get engaged at such a young age. That's fantastic. Mihaila, what's your greatest gift in monitoring a book club? Well, I think and you're excellent at doing that by the way at keeping one discussion there's sometimes a tendency to have side discussions and those are very distracting so it's nice to have one discussion and you're doing a great job at that and engaging sometimes I show up to a book club and I know that I love the book where I have not liked the book but I don't have I'm not thinking anything else about it until the conversation starts and it's like you want more and you want to dig in and that's the job of the moderator to sort of engage and stimulate that conversation. Diane, what's the greatest gift you get from the book club? Well, I mentioned the other I think more than anything it's exchanging ideas respect for other people's ideas even though I may disagree also many times I'll think gee I really missed that I maybe I'll reread the book which I have been known to do but the other thing that I really enjoy is that it stretches your imagination reading books stretches your imagination and stimulates curiosity and so it's an opportunity to go to another place and that's what I like about it and being with different people they suggest different members suggest different books and as a result you can learn about history you can learn it's a learning experience and you can learn from your fellow members as well as from the books and their life experiences and I think that's another secret to book clubs you know we think of groups in general and everybody's discussing books which is wonderful but the moderator gets benefits from conducting the book club and it's because you're engaging people you are engaging people they are engaging each other but as the moderator you get that special gift right so that's another secret to a great book club when the moderator is engaging the members speaking of members how do you get your members and how do they find you Diane how do you get members and how and how do they find you if I meet someone and I think that they would be a good fit for our book club keep in mind there are several different kinds of book clubs there are those who want to read have B treats yes but I'm talking about your book club great discussions great discussions always looking for someone who is interested in foreign policy and really is serious about it so we're always looking for that so I think Mihaila can say the same we're always looking for someone and we'll say what do you think of this person or that person so it's but mainly it's people who have a more broader interest especially in what we discuss okay Mihaila she mentioned your name you must have something you want to say about how you get members and how they find you yes so you know finding people to join is not that difficult particularly in my business because I meet people that move to the islands but besides somebody's desire to read books and discuss them I'm looking for members that are also willing to listen and give an opportunity to others to contribute so that's another secret of a book club you need a good combination of members that are willing to talk and members that are willing to listen correct if we could show the website for the foreign policy association.org this is the website that Mihaila and Diane well this is the umbrella of the discussion group it's a this is a nationwide association and then The Great Decisions has chapters if you want to call them all over the country and they're the one in Maui it's Diane and myself that manage it and that is fpa.org fpa.org now Gretchen if we could see the website for the library systems and Gretchen if they were going to contact you directly they would do it through this website um well for joining our book club again this is only a big island book club so it's open to elementary schools middle schools that have up to seventh grade and libraries on this island so depending on where they live they would contact their local library on the big island so they would go through the website and the drop down and inquire through the website to see if each branch has a team would they ask for the Hele Hele they would ask to the library manager or for a children's librarian and ask do you have a Hele Hele Quiz Bowl club this year and um they would if they don't they're sometimes able there's home schools as well that participate and based on patronage that library should know if there is one in the area because more than likely the library is being utilized to check out the books that the students have to read for the club super thank you if we could see the West Maui book club dot com this is the club that I monitor if you can click on past reads that would be great and it shows a list of all of the books that we've read since 2005 including discussion questions and if we can scroll down a little bit that would be wonderful there we go they're in alphabetical order a through z and the dates that we discuss them and if there's a line under you just click on it and you have all the discussion questions and then there's other pages involved too where we have book recommendations that we didn't discuss and that list is very extensive as well and you can contact the West Maui book club through that website I get my members through word of mouth I get my members through that website and that's how and that's how people contact me ladies, up your book clubs what has been the outstanding book I will tell you what the West Maui book club has been and it came to me came to our group in 2006 and it stands alone and that is Pope Joan by Donna Wolfe Cross still a favorite it's I mean even the Vatican knows about this book so I highly recommend it and and that's another secret to book clubs everybody books that you remember okay I remember that one well and also the other one was the tortilla curtain that was our first introduction as Louisa say I believe that was fine pardon Luis Urea I believe it was fine I could be wrong I'm going to put another on I'm not sure but I remember that one and that really was the first introduction for all of us as to the hardships and so forth for those coming across the border and so it was very enlightening Gretchen what about your your halo halo well with the halo halo the list is ever revolving but since most of the years the past eight years or seven years I've been doing the newberry portion which also flows over depending on what the judge has picked to put on the new list I'm going to go with if a child walks into the library and they're interested in an award-winning book my go to and the one that's been a favorite is called the one and only Ivan and it is based on a true story it's by Catherine Applegate and the one and only Ivan is based on a real live gorilla that was once enclosed in a mall as part of an exhibit and it's a really great story it's very touching and it's good for any beginning reader and even older readers like myself fantastic and the highlight great discussions what is the best book? well we we read primarily on topics and it's the variety of books but one one book that I've read because of a book club and that was the Maui prep book club is bridges out of poverty it's actually a non-fiction and offers ways to deal with people in poverty that are trying to move up towards middle class and it was practical and inspiring and thought provoking and this book has had seven editions I think or visions and I think given current circumstances it's becoming even more important to to be aware of and read fantastic ladies what are you reading now? what can you recommend to our viewers? I'll tell you what I'm reading besides Lily and the octopus I'm reading you can see it's called remarkably bright animals I think remarkably bright animals I think is the title of it hi Keshia but I'm reading I just finished the violin conspiracy and that's an adult book it's adult fiction and I'm sorry off the top of my head I forgot the author a random slope of my think is the author and I'm reading right now for our Halu Halu quiz bowl meeting it's a book that's a prince honor book which is a actual young adult fiction award it's called starfish by Lisa Phipps and it's written in prose which is really nice wonderful Mihaila what are you reading? you're always reading something interesting yeah I'm reading a fascinating book it's called battlegrounds by H.R. McMaster and it's about security threats to U.S. and it's absolutely fascinating and will you be talking about this on your show called world of books also on things yes it's coming next Wednesday I don't know what date that is but that's when we are recording the show okay we'll have to watch for it Diane what are you reading? I'm reading the book collectors this is about the rebels of Durea right near Damascus they during they were the rebels who were fighting Assad's regime they decided that they were going to be above fear uh to there were 250,000 people who were eventually being dying and escaping and so forth so they were down to 12,000 the rebel rebels in the middle of the rubble were finding books and as a result they decided that they would start a library and save all the books so that when people who came back or really what it says is the importance of books and how it sustained them and uh it turned out towards the end they have 15,000 books that they had saved so they have a very comprehensive library fantastic ladies in closing what secrets can you reveal about your book club or to anyone considering starting a book club what's your number one piece of advice you want to think about it I'll tell you mine I'd say you have an open mind whenever you select titles I'm very resistant when somebody says and this book is going to be non-fiction and I'm a big fiction fan fan fan of fiction and I say oh no I don't know if I want to do something like a non-fiction book and then I uh I end up I read it and then I learned something new I may or may not like it but um the secret is just have an open mind I think if you're if you're an avid reader like myself I try I tried to dabble a little bit of everything so I read all different genres and all different age levels being a librarian fantastic be high love do you want to answer that question yep I would say you know if you hear about a book club give it a try see if it's the right fit you know maybe give it a second try and keep going until you find your home Diane what's your opinion on it what what could you tell people I would say what kind of book club would you like to be a part of do you want one that is of a strictly social where everybody shows up says thumbs up thumbs down and then they go on and somehow end up talking about their last trip which is wonderful but it's more of a social event than something like the West Maui book club and thanks to our narrator we are able to our leader we are able to really discuss the book um and also subjects very very I would say pick your audience pick your members well let one person enjoy it they'll tell two people on and on but it's the moderator's responsibility to keep it exciting in closing I want to thank ThinkTech Hawaii for this opportunity I want to thank Jay Fidel the technicians everyone associated with the program all our sponsors where would we be without you we thank you tremendously my guests Gretchen Diane Mihaila thanks for joining me and keep reading Mahalo