Firstly, what exactly is a reading group?

Reading groups vary dramatically and the nature of your group will depend on who it is aimed at. It might be that co-workers and colleagues in an office might like to develop a group – a useful way of keeping in touch with what’s happening in the UK? Or it might be that the group is aimed at Young Learners. It could be as simple as an informal gathering of a few friends, or a formal faciliator-lead academic discussion aimed at textual analysis. enCompassCulture can provide you with book selection choices to suit all types of groups.

How to set up a group

For an informal reading group the most useful place to start is your immediate friends and acquaintances. If you want to attract more people, then advertise your group in a place most likely to attract the people you are aiming to reach, a university, teaching centre, library or a bookshop for example. If you are worried about creating a group where people don’t know each other, remember that reading is a useful common link.

As the telecommunications company Orange is aware reading in the workplace is an interesting area that more and more companies are looking into. The Reading Agency ran a Books and Business project. Whether it is a group of staff meeting at lunch to discuss books, or ELT teachers, librarians, lecturers or any group of work colleagues, a reading group in a workplace requires a co-ordinator, a small commitment of time, a room and a framework.

Reading groups developed in partnership with other organisations or to compliment a course, teaching centre, university degree and so on might require a facilitator or co-ordinator. If so, the co-ordinator needs to work out whether the reading group is voluntary or sits within the remit of the work. A school reading group could be held during the lunch hour or after school. Undergraduate students might meet to discuss books linked to their studies. For example in 2003 a compass for Management Teaching Using Literature (how fiction and drama can be used to illustrate management principals) will be added to enCompassCulture and a Business Studies reading group could read and discuss these books. The group can discuss how events/actions in the book led to the outcome and how it could be improved or made worse by different actions.  

The British Council plans to set up reading groups using the facilities in the new Knowledge Learning Centres, both in the actual rooms and also providing the facilities to meet virtually.

Whatever the type of reading group you are looking at, below are the basics for setting up a meeting.

Organising the first meeting

Whether informal or formal, there are basic frameworks that all reading groups need to decide upon at the beginning to ensure fruitful discussion.

• Agree with your group a time and place to meet that suits everyone. Monthly often works well, providing enough time to read the books.
• Venues depend – staff room? bar? your house? university class room? theatre? school library? – but make sure it is comfortable and quiet.
• Is your reading group an indefinite group or will it have a timescale? Will it last for one term only or will it be on-going? Decide on the length of time of the sessions accordingly. Two hours for discussion is useful (allowing for a small amount of gossiping time at the beginning).
• Bring your diaries and pin down dates!
• It is useful to lay down a framework at the beginning so that everybody knows what is expected. Will you rotate the chair? Do you expect everyone to have read the book entirely or are you willing to make exceptions? Be as realistic as possible: if you expect everyone to read three weighty novels a month then the drop-out rate will be high.
• It’s a good idea to make a record of everyone who has joined in, with contact details and phone numbers so that members can be alerted to last minute changes.
• How many people? Between four and twelve is a good number. If you get into a larger group it is more difficult for everybody to contribute and it would be better to split into two smaller groups.
• Decide on refreshments and who is going to provide and pay for them. It’s always a good thing to have a lubricant to get the discussions flowing.

Managing the discussion

What kind of discussion you have of course depends on the nature of your reading group. If you are informal and democratic, then you might want to have an alternative chair each session. You might be interested in a conversational analysis of the writing and compare and contrast views and responses.

Even if informal it is useful to have a framework – a list of discussion points will give the group a focus. When exploring UK fiction, the following points are helpful:

1. What is the story about?

2. Who are the main characters? What do you think of them?

3. How does the story unroll?

4. What do you think the author is trying to do? Does it work?

5. How is the author using language?

6. How does the book relate to your experience? Other books you have read?

How do you start the discussion? You might want to begin with a little precis or summary of the plot or the book. You might list what you liked, what you didn’t like. You might take it in turns talking about what you liked or didn’t and then develop the dialogue from there. You should agree at the beginning of the session that the designated chair or facilitator will direct the discussion – obviously you don’t want to inhibit debate, but sometimes reigning back for reflection is useful.

Don’t be alarmed if the discussion becomes heated, it is a sign that everyone is engaged and involved – it is important that everyone’s opinion is taken seriously and is considered valid within the group.

For a reading group that is linked to a wider organisation, a teaching school or university for example, then a facilitator or teacher might lead the discussion.  We will be providing training in reading group facilitation for British Council offices overseas.

If the group is using the reading group as a compliment to learning English, then you require a heavier concentration on the use of language. A carefully thought out reading list can provide a level of reading abilities, and create new angles and insights into the language. Many of the same issues as listed above still arise however, and it is equally as important to lay down a framework for discussion. Recognise that everyone’s opinion is valid; there needs to be space for everybody to talk.

Varying discussion management to suit the group

Your reading group might be more inclined to discuss politics and cultural commentary than fiction (or it might combine the two). If you are reading and discussing Tariq Ali’s The Clash of Fundamentalism or Edward Said’s Orientalism, perhaps the reading group links with journalist students, or young lawyers, in this case then your facilitator will need to know his or her subject in advance and feel comfortable in leading a discussion.

Perhaps your reading group links into a forthcoming festival? For example a forthcoming Literature Festival may include talks from Doris Lessing and Alan Warner, it might be that it is possible for the reading groups who have read the works in advance to meet the authors, or link into the festival in some way.

Establish links between readers in the UK and the rest of the world using enCompass

• Read the books, then add reviews or join in the discussions with other readers and the online reader in residence using the web board or chatline
• Arrange for your reading group members to all be in the chatline together at a time to suit them – why not have regular meetings there? – or arrange to chat at the same time as a partner group here in the UK so that you can discuss your books virtually and then choose the next book to read from enCompass and set the time and date for your next online meeting
• Children learning English can select books to suit their reading age and interest and then practice their English by adding a review or posting a message on the board. An interactive chat is fun especially if you can arrange to meet with another British Council ELT reading group or a school in the UK.

How to choose and select books for the reading groups

Use enCompass to select your books for you. Choose a compass and make your choices. Then choose which book from the list you want to read as a group. Write reviews and add them to the site or discuss them on the webboard so that you can share your feelings about a book with other readers not only in your reading group but around the world. With enCompass your choice can be serendipitous or planned.

Other ways to make your selection:

• Use the webboard discussion to prompt you to make your choice
• Do you want to read books by less well-known authors then select New Talent? You can combine it with a genre to be more specific
• You could select books from enCompass to read in translation if your reading group has limited English or choose a book of short stories
• Prize shortlists are good discussion books. Use the prizes filter on each site to make your selection
• Use the Science-Literature compass books to explore the current crossover thinking in-between these two areas
• UK Diversity is a good starting point to read Diaspora writing by exiled writers, journalists and thinkers, living and writing in the UK
• The UK is a multicultural society - use the UK Diversity or World UK compasses to discover aspects of this - For example, who does London belong to? Hanan al Shaykh’s Only in London provides a glimpse of a very unique London when read alongside Peter Ackroyd’s London: The Biography, and Diran Adebayo’s Some Kind of Black gives a glimpse into a a true sense of multicultural co-existence in one city
• Reading groups can link into English Language Teaching – providing an excellent complimentary reading list. A carefully selected range of additional reading allows the student to gain a deeper entry into the UK, into what it means to be British, to speak English and about what the UK means to those students and so on
• Students studying the complexities of English dialect and cultural English (whether in ELT or in a wider Academic context) can incorporate reading groups that explore dialect and regionalism (a menu of James Kelman, Irvine Welsh alongside Caryl Phillips perhaps) - see the UK Diversity compass
• Colleagues working on arts programmes can develop reading groups in partnership with other organisations in order to develop the audience for an event or festival
• British Council Young Learners Centres can use the enCompass children’s literature area to develop reading lists and resources for young students