Chapter 2
The First Book
That first meeting was crucial. The date was set: Tuesday, October 18, 2011. At first the goal was simply to get guys to come through the door to see what this crazy thing called the Guys Book Club was all about. Some would no doubt come simply out of curiosity, but I was hopeful that others would welcome the opportunity to read and discuss books, but not just any books. That first book needed to be approachable, discussable, and popular, something that would appeal to a broad range of guys, yet not a book that was too simple or shallow.
Many of our regular guy patrons loved books by John Grisham, Clive Cussler, Lee Child, and other best-selling authors. While I have nothing against those writers, I realized their works are primarily light reads with not an awful lot in them to discuss. They're fine for what they are: casual or what we often call "beach" reads. You read them and typically don't think a lot about them afterward. Really, what's there to discuss? "Man, Jack Reacher really kicked butt in that one!" or "This book isn't as good as his last one," or "That would make a great movie!" A few such comments go by and you've still got 58 minutes left to kill.
Many of the guys I initially approached about the book club asked if we would be reading books by some of those popular writers. My response was usually noncommittal: "You never know," or "You'll have to wait and see." I could've simply said "No, we won't be reading James Patterson books. We'll be reading and discussing things that have real substance."
Was that how I felt? Yes. Did I say that, or something like it? No. I didn't want to start out negative. Those books have a place and they serve a purpose. Heck, I enjoy those writers and their books, but I don't want a steady diet of them. Yet I understand that others do, and I don't judge them for that. There's simply not much to delve into with those books. But at the same time, I didn't want to limit my audience too much. If I go with works of popular fiction, I thought, I might get large numbers, but what's the point? Is that the type of book club I wanted? The challenge was to choose books that would encourage guys to think and discuss things of importance, but books that were also enjoyable. We probably weren't going to cover great literature every time we met, but I certainly wanted (as much as possible) to strike a balance between substance, interest, readability, and approachability. But I also wanted, especially for the first book, something recognizable and popular.
That first book needed to be one that wasn't just recognizable, but one you couldn't get away from, a title everyone was talking about. I didn't want something moderately popular, I wanted something wildly popular, a book you couldn't say "No" to, a title that would draw in even the most reluctant participant.
I had two books to choose for the upcoming Sept/Oct/Nov 2011 issue of Happenings for our October and November meetings. After much thought and research, I decided the very first book discussed by the Guys Book Club would be Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. The book had been released in November 2010 and was enormously popular, eventually spending over four years on the New York Times bestseller list including 14 weeks at #1.3 (The book has become the fifth longest-running nonfiction bestseller in history.4) So after choosing a high-profile book and talking to every guy that came into the library, I was confident that first meeting would be a sure thing.
Any book (or movie, TV show, etc.) that's universally hailed as great, a must-read, or an "instant classic" always makes me suspicious, which is why I never read Hillenbrand's first book Seabiscuit: An American Legend when it hit the shelves in 1999. At the time of its release, I was working in a small independent bookstore and nearly every person walking through the doors wanted Seabiscuit, one after another, every single day. Then those who had read it came back, wanting to buy another copy to give to someone. Seabiscuit wasn't just popular, it was a phenomenon.
Unbroken, the story of World War II POW Louis Zamperini, was on target to become even more popular than Seabiscuit. In spite of the hype, I read Unbroken, since World War II tales have always interested me much more than horse stories. Unbroken both impressed and moved me. I had no reservations in choosing it for the book club.
Soon the announcement of the Guys Book Club appeared in Happenings with information about our first two meetings. We would discuss Unbroken in October, and another book in November, which I'll tell you about in the next chapter. Of course I didn't wait until Happenings came out to start talking to people about the book club. I continued my usual practice of talking to every guy who came into the branch. But now I had a title to share with them.
Once I began mentioning Unbroken, people started paying attention. Here was a book they'd heard of (How could you not have heard of it?), a book they'd read or wanted to read. While most of the guys I approached were familiar with the title, some didn't know what the book was about. When I described the story, they grew more interested. Many asked if we had the book, checking it out if we did and putting it on hold if we didn't. Copies were checking out, but I knew that wasn't necessarily an indicator of how many guys might show up, since many people in the general population were still reading the book as well. I felt encouragement mixed with a bit of queasiness.
The night of the first meeting I set up a table and several chairs in the library's meeting room (which holds well over 150 people) and waited. Signs on the meeting room door announced that this was the place for the book club. The refreshments didn't exactly constitute a banquet fit for kings, but at least microwave popcorn and bottled water were both within my meager budget. So 7pm rolled around, and..
Three guys showed up.
I kept telling myself, "Hey, three guys isn't bad." It could've been worse. We've had adult library programs before where nobody showed up. And while I was thankful anyone had come, I'll admit feeling a little disappointed. But I had to hide that disappointment and give it my best for the three guys who were there.
One of them was a regular library patron who often came up the Info Desk to place books on hold. I'll call him Daniel. Daniel was probably in his late 70s, a guy in good shape who looked like he might've been an athlete as a young man. I always enjoyed talking with Daniel at the desk; he was a very personable guy and always enjoyed talking about books, vacationing and fishing. From the first moment I mentioned the Guys Book Club, Daniel was on board, although most of what he read consisted of popular books by authors like David Baldacci, John Grisham, and Clive Cussler. Daniel also read popular nonfiction, so I felt he would probably enjoy Unbroken. Watching Daniel walk through the door for that first meeting immediately put me at ease.
Paul was a gentleman I had seen in the library on several occasions, but had never spoken to, a tall man, probably in his mid-60s, someone who seemed very personable. The third gentleman was someone I'd never seen in the library before. I'll call him Robert, a man I guessed was in his mid-70s. Robert was also tall, the kind of guy who looks as if life hasn't really dealt him a bad hand, but he likes to give the impression that it has, with lots of sighing, long exhalations, and never looking you in the eye. I felt good about Daniel and Paul. I wasn't so sure about Robert.
What I was sure about was that my marketing technique of talking to every guy in the library had been a complete bust. Here we were at the first meeting, and two-thirds of the guys in attendance had never been approached by me. Even worse, all those conversations I had conducted with other guys in the library had proven a wasted effort. But it was too late to do anything about it at that moment, so I pressed ahead with the three guys who were there.
To be honest, I was very thankful I had three guys. It could've been zero. One of the problems with trying new programs at the library without preregistration is that you never know how many (or more accurately, how few) people you'll get at your program. Of course, preregistration doesn't guarantee those people will show up, but at least you have an idea about the level of interest. As I mentioned before, I've planned other programs where no one showed up, so I really had no reason to complain about that night's turnout.
So the four of us gathered around a single table. I sat on one long side of the table with Daniel at my right. Across from Daniel sat Paul, and Robert placed himself at the "head" of the table (to Daniel's right and Paul's left). I didn't think about it at the time, but...
