We're Full, Say Clubs. End Of Story
Sun Herald
Sunday June 12, 2005
SYDNEY book clubs the gen X equivalent of the stitch'n'bitch knitting circle have become so exclusive that city literati are vetoing members and keeping waiting lists.
Book club members say they have been forced to "close their books", rejecting potential new members or asking them to join waiting lists, in order to protect their tight-knit cliques.In response, websites and online chat rooms have begun filling up with advertisements from bookish types seeking fun and friendship."There are a lot of people out there looking to join a reading group," said publisher Rowena Cseh, whose monthly Good Reading magazine operates a free classifieds section for prospective members."There are groups willing to receive new members and most of those groups get a good response. But over time book clubs become like a social group and it's hard for a new person to break in."At one inner-city book club recently, a member sent an email asking to invite a friend to join the club. No one replied. A source close to the club said the email made members feel awkward. There were eight in the group and each person felt that a new person might spoil the intimate dynamic."We haven't actually refused anybody," a club spokeswoman said diplomatically. "It's just that we don't invite."Book clubs in libraries and bookshops are also proving hot property. Leichhardt bookshop Shearer's on Norton has two evening book clubs with a two- or three-month waiting list. Gleebooks' Michael Campbell recommended that bookworms access a virtual club with the view to starting a physical club later."Book clubs are incredibly popular and spaces get filled up incredibly quickly," Mr Campbell said. "People wanting to find a book club can find it very difficult."New Zealander Faye Franco said that, when she moved to Sydney two years ago, her first priority was to join a book club. Finally last December she placed an ad on the internet. Since then she has received only one call."I was very disappointed," Ms Franco said. "I was new to the country and I wanted to meet like-minded intelligent women. I'm not sure whether I'm interested in a dying art form or whether people are just too ensconced in their own clubs."When inner-city club BABES Books and Booze Every Session began meeting four years ago, its members intended to keep membership to a limit of eight. But when the group reached 11, core members decided it was time for a cap.Founding member Melanie McGrail said telling friends that her book club had a waiting list sometimes caused quite a hullabaloo."Sometimes they think you're being rude or picky," Ms McGrail said."But it's really only because it's too big already. People break up into their own little conversations and when we met in my one-bedroom apartment last month there weren't enough chairs. We had to have a picnic on the floor."
© 2005 Sun Herald