Meter

Ernest J. Gaines's novel, A Lesson Before Dying was one of he many books on the club's lilist. [Click to enlarge]

Empire Falls was also on the reading group's list. [Click to enlarge]

Officials of the Brown-Daniel library on the campus of Tennessee State University are aiming to recruit their first ever student participants in the library reading group.

The reading group began during the 2003-2004 academic school year by library and media center assistant professors Barbara VanHooser and Lynetta Alexander.  The two professors began with a love for reading and turned their interests into a reading group dedicated to promoting reading and an enjoyable, stress-free experience.

“Barbara and I read constantly,” said Alexander. “We were always talking about great (books) that we found, and we wanted to get people together informally to talk about reading.”

The reading group began meeting in November of 2003 with about 12 faculty and staff members.  Meetings were held once a month, giving participants a month to read the selected book and choose topics of interest for discussion at the meetings.

The participants met a total of about six times between November and March, and covered many diverse titles including: Painted House by John Grisham, A Lesson Before Dying by Earnest Gaines, Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenrich and Empire Falls by Richard Russo.

“Nickel and Dimed led to a wonderful discussion about the inequalities of life,” Alexander said.  “In general we like to talk about the main ideas in non-fiction pieces and the characters in fiction.”

Although the group reads literature from nationally and internationally published authors, according to Alexander, the group members are always interested in reading works by TSU authors and local authors.

The choice of reading material is collective decision made by participating group members.  They make a conscious effort to choose titles suggested by all members in order to include as many different topics and genres as possible.

“We want to provide a very informal, no test-no stress, pleasant atmosphere for discussion,” said Alexander.  “We usually select the first four or five novels at our first meeting.”

The first library reading group meeting was held on Friday, Sept. 24 on the second floor of the library.  All following meetings will be held on the third Friday of every month from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

Alexander and VanHooser have passed out flyers on campus and advertised the reading group in the library’s scrolling marquee.  With students’ many class assignments, activities and commitments, finding time to read for pleasure may propose a challenge.

“I didn’t know that we had a library reading group,” said Tionne Fambro, a senior from Chicago majoring in English.  “I think the average student would be more interested in the reading group if they could discuss selections from class so that students would be able to gain more insight into their reading assignments.” •

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