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I'm Jeanna Rock, and we're discussing how to lead a book discussion. First of all, make
sure that you read the book. And encourage the other members of your group to read it
as well. I know that sometimes it's hard for us to get through a novel in a month, or whatever
the time limit is, but it's hard to have a discussion if everyone hasn't read a novel,
and quite often if the book has a surprise ending, we're a little bit hesitant to discuss
that. In our book group, the rule is we're going to have spoilers. If you didn't read
the book, that's your problem, we're going to talk about it, and we're going to talk
about all the surprising instances that happened as well. So make sure that everyone reads.
Be sure that you have a list of some questions that will lead to a good discussion, and try
to tie some of those questions in with books that you've read before as well. Making those
connections is very important. Include everyone in your discussion. Make sure that not one
person sits there and does not participate at all. Quite often we have people who dominate
the discussion, and that is not helpful. We want everyone to participate, we want everyone's
ideas to be presented to the group. Also, don't allow people to go off too far on tangents.
I know sometimes it's very interesting and sometimes it's enlightening to do that, but
keep your discussion on the book, and leave time at the end for discussing things that
don't have anything to do with the book.