The Circle by Dave Eggers
I have always wanted to
participate in one of my library’s many book discussions. My library offers a
large variety of types: Teen Book Club, Fantastic Fiction Fridays, Christian
Fiction Book Chat, Jane Austen Book Discussion, Mystery Lover’s Book
Discussion, Page Turners, Untitled, Brown Bag Lunch Book Club, Coffee Talk Book
Discussion, Mostly Classics Book Discussion, Classics Book Discussion, and
Books and Bottles (held at a local winery).
Unfortunately, many of them meet at times that are very inconvenient to
my schedule. The majority are held
during the day (11:00-4:30) with only three of them taking place past 6 pm:
Jane Austen, Popular, and Untitled. I
appreciate the large variety, but it is not very accommodating for those
working typical job hours, and none of them take place during the weekend.
I was very lucky that I was able to participate in the Popular
Book Discussion during the month of March as they were discussing The Circle by Dave Eggers. I had to read this novel for an S550
Perspectives on Librarianship assignment last semester. I LOVED it!
I have been recommending it to everyone, and purchasing as a gift for
holidays and birthdays. I was very
excited to be able to discuss this book with people that I didn’t know, hoping
to see a different perspective.
The Popular Book Discussion meets the first Tuesday of
every month in the North Park Branch’s meeting room. The tables were arranged into a U-shape. Refreshments were not provided, but several
members had bottles of water with them. Unfortunately, for this particular
meeting, snow was predicted for that evening (8-12 inches). So, it was not typical participation. Kyle was the moderator of the group, and he
rotates this discussion with two other Readers’ Advisors. When I entered the room, there were two other
members present, another would join us later.
I was told that this group usually has six to seven regular
members. A PowerPoint screen was already
up with an image of the book. The
discussion began with the PowerPoint presentation. Kyle introduced information on Dave Eggers’s
early life, schooling, novels, and publishing history. After the short presentation he opened the
discussion with a question, “Is this a dystopian novel? Is this a valid
technology?” It was a very interesting discussion to start with and Kyle asked
pointed questions to keep our comments open and productive. The questions included:
- Relationships between particular characters
- How would you react in specific emotional situations?
- What do you think about a particular character?
o
Are they fully
realized?
- Discussion about the company depicted in the book
o
Creators
o
Balance of power
§
How does this
mirror our society?
- Motivations of friendships
- Characters versus Issues
- Symbolism of scenes
One of the members did have
a tendency to try to interject experiences in her life that had nothing to do
with the discussion. Kyle did his best
to try to rein this in and ask her how it related. I am curious if this is a common occurrence
in their meetings.
One of the difficulties for the discussion involved the
subject of the book. The theme of the
book revolves around a “Google like” company whose technology begins to become
very invasive and erodes personal freedoms.
Kyle and myself were the only two that were active with Social Media and
the Internet. The other three members
had limited experience. In that case, it
was difficult to discuss the purpose of novel—is it a commentary on today’s
world? Due to the other members’ limited
knowledge, they did not have direct experiences with how technology has either
become invasive or eroded their own personal privacy. While this book is “popular”, I was left
wondering if it was an appropriate selection for this audience. (However, it is important to remember that
half of the members were not present due to the weather.) While it was an interesting discussion, it
did not satisfy my desire to talk about the issues contained within. The members’ lack of experience hindered my
ability to talk about it.
The Book discussion lasted an hour. At the end of the hour, Kyle recommended
several other titles by Dave Eggers. I
would have also liked to have a list of read-alikes, but that wasn’t
discussed. There was a mix-up with the
next month’s selection, so he had brought in a cart with two possible choices
in multiple formats encouraging the members to choose their preference.
Overall, this was a very positive experience. Kyle was also the Reader Advisor that I
worked with during the Secret Shopper experience. He did an amazing job with that, so I wasn’t surprised
by his preparedness with this discussion.
I liked that the discussion began with a PowerPoint covering the
author’s life. It would be helpful for
the librarian to add slides that cover the author’s other novels and
read-alikes. Based upon the titles in their past and future discussions, I
don’t know that I would ever participate again.
I am not interested in any of them.
But then again, maybe I need to expand my own reading selections, and
give it another chance.
Past and Future Selections
2014
September: Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole
October: Breakfast with Buddah by Roland Merullo
November: The Round House by Louise Erdrich
December: Unbroken: a World War II Story by Laura
Hillenbrand
2015
February: Praying for Strangers by River Jordan
March: The Circle by Dave Eggers
April: The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian
May: The Rent Collector by Camron Wright (originally scheduled for
April)
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