(♪) Book clubs have grown in popularity across age groups, serving as both educational and social platforms.

A discussion on the benefits of book clubs coming up on Inspire.

Inspire is sponsored by the estate of Ray and Anne Goldsmith.

The Raymond C and Marguerite Gibson Foundation and the Louis H. Humphreys Charitable Trust.

(♪) Hello and welcome to Inspire.

I am, as always, very excited to be here with my beautiful Inspire Sisters.

Betty Lou Pardue and Danielle Norwood.

Okay.

Book clubs have grown in popularity across age groups, serving as both educational and social platform.

Book clubs can motivate members to read regularly, exposing them to a variety of genres, authors, and perspectives they might not explore on their own.

Here to discuss benefits of book clubs, how to start your own, or how to find clubs already in existence is Cadie Maas.

She is the readers and resources supervisor at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.

Thank you for joining us today and Inspire.

So book clubs have picked up in popularity.

Can you tell us about what a book club is?

And also you enlighten me before we even got on.

You don't even have to really read the book in order to join one.

So please tell us about that.

So book clubs are a group of people who all typically read the same book, but there are lots of clubs where people read different books.

But you gather together to discuss what you've read and, talk about your reactions to the book, why you liked it or didn't like it, what really resonated with you while you were reading it?

And, you know, it's a lot of fun.

Like at my book club, we have snacks and beverages and we talk about the book and but we also talk about things that are like tangentially related to the book, but we also talk about things that are completely unrelated to the book.

So it just kind of depends on, on your group.

But that's my personal book club.

But at the library, we also have a lot of, we have several book clubs there, and those are a little more structured, but, also designed to be fun and engaging with, people who participate.

So, I mentioned that, you know, I have been a part of my personal book club where, it was a book that just wasn't really clicking with me.

It was, a nonfiction book, and it was historical, and it just wasn't my jam.

Or, you know, a lot of times I feel like, books are something you respond to at a point in time in your life where you read it at that point, and it just really resonates for some reason.

But if you read it, you know, two years ago, you might not have the same reaction to it.

So, at that point in my life, that book just wasn't it for me.

And so I didn't read the book.

I tried several times, but I still went to my meeting and we still had a good time.

And I wasn't the only one that time that didn't read the book.

But, you know, I think it just depends on your book club.

There's probably different book clubs have different ground rules, but we're pretty chill group.

And so we understand if you just if it's just not your thing, it's just not your thing.

Life's too short to read a book you don't like.

I made a little, you know, putting it down and going on to the next.

There's way too many books now.

Have book clubs evolved over the years?

My mom had belonged to a book club.

Many, many, many years ago.

And but I and I'm sure that today's book clubs are not my mother's book club.

So what?

How have they evolved?

What are they like now?

Well, I don't I don't know what your mom's book club was like, but, I was in a book club several years ago, like, maybe 10 or 15 years ago.

And I'm in a book club now, and they are they're very similar.

I mean, they're it's the same general premise.

It's both clubs were just ladies.

And so, I don't know, I think that I think that over time, more kinds of books have been published.

And so that might be one way that book clubs have changed.

I before I was in my current role at the library, I worked as a cataloger.

So I cataloged all the nonfiction and fiction adult books, and I did that for like 20 years.

So, I really did notice, like trends and publishing, a lot more, diversity in books in recent years.

And so, I think that that encourages people to read different voices and, and discuss how those kinds of things impact you as a reader and what you take away from it.

So that's maybe one way I can.

I know you have a lot of, book clubs at the library.

Yeah, but what if somebody just wants to start one on their own?

How would they go about that?

So, I was not in a book club for a while, and I was talking with a friend, and she and I both were interested in starting a book club, but we didn't really know how to go about doing it.

So I just decided I was just going to go through my Facebook friends list and just started like picking people.

I thought, well, I know this person.

I've seen this person post about books before, or I know I've talked to this person about a book that she read at the same time as me.

So I just kind of went through my friends list and I created this big mass message, and I sent it out to all the people that I thought might be interested.

And I was like, hey, if this is not your thing, that's totally okay.

Feel free to leave this group.

But, I'm interested in starting a book club, and I would love if you would consider being a part of it.

And I was nervous.

Like, I was like, oh, nobody wants to be like.

But, I was really happy.

Lots of people were into it.

And, we've been going for about three years now, and we have a good time.

It's a lot of fun.

And we everybody hasn't come all the time, you know, like, people have lives and we get busy and, and that's okay.

But there's a pretty good group of us that always come every time.

We also don't meet every month because like I said, we are busy.

Yeah.

So we try, we aim for every other month, but sometimes it gets pushed a little bit and that's okay too.

The library has a number of book clubs already.

Can you speak about the ones that are already offered?

Sure.

We currently have, I think eight book clubs.

One is sort of like, it's like a non book club.

Book club?

It's a Facebook.

It's actually a Facebook group and it's called Top City Reads.

-I'm In it!

Are you?

I am actually and people there is no meetings.

There is no book.

I mean, sometimes the librarian who, manages that page can suggest a book, but people just go on there and talk about what they're reading.

And, our librarian, she will post questions that sort of generate conversation sometimes, but it's a very loose definition of a book club.

And so, that's one that's one that the library sponsors and we also offer one called TALK, and that is in partnership with Humanities Kansas.

And they provide the books to us.

And then we share those out.

And they're generally focused on literature about Kansas or by Kansans.

Another one we have is called So Many Books, and that's just the clever name for it.

But it's not, it more focuses on contemporary literature.

So new books or books that have been really popular in recent years don't read a lot of those kinds of materials.

And we have one called Classics Made Modern.

And that group meets only online, and they read books that are in the open domain.

So books that have fallen out of copyright and are accessible to anyone online, and so they read mostly classic literature.

They sometimes also will talk about, you know, it's kind of a trendy thing right now where, a lot of authors will, like, rewrite stories moderate, like they'll make up classic literature, like a modern day story.

So they'll talk about some of those books, like if they're reading Pride and Prejudice, they might be talking about, although there's a ton of them that are like that.

Tell that story.

Tell that story.

We have three newer book clubs at the library.

One is called a morbid Curiosity.

Nice.

And it's a lot of fun.

The group reads True Crime and paranormal and, some fiction, some nonfiction.

So far, they've only been reading nonfiction, but, they've read some really interesting stuff, and I think they've only been doing it for like three months now, and it's been really popular.

So we've been excited to see how that's taken off.

And, we also have a new one called Silent Book Club, which is also sort of a different type of book club.

It's really designed for people who have a hard time carving out time to dedicate to reading.

And so, maybe they're not really interested in all reading the same book and then discussing it, but they want to be around other people who also love and appreciate books, and they can come to our beautiful library and enjoy the setting and just read and silent companionship.

So, that has not been as popular, but it is a nice offering.

We've had a couple people come to several of the meetings, so it's been going good.

And then the last one is one that you had touched on earlier about or maybe you about genres.

It's called Journey Through Genres.

And this book club is designed to, encourage readers to step outside their, reading comfort zone.

So, maybe you think that you hate sci fi?

This book club encourages you to select a book from the library's sci fi collection.

And then so like every month, they focus on a different genre.

And so, the librarian will sort of give like a rundown of the genre, and then everybody can talk about, like the book they read and what they thought about it.

It's not all reading the same book, just reading from the same genre.

So it's more of like a comparison.

So, okay, so we have piqued your interest in joining a book club, a local book club.

Now, coming up after the break, we'll learn more about the benefits of reading together and how you can create a book club of your own.

So stay with us.

And I am honored to be here to feature an inspirational woman, Amy Brady, executive director of popular environmental magazine Orion, and the author of Ice From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks A Cool History of a Hot Commodity.

Amy, thank you for joining us on inspire.

Thanks for having me.

The whole topic of ice is interesting to me.

Why did you decide to choose it out of all the other things that you could have written about?

Well, about six years ago I was visiting my family who live here in Topeka, Kansas.

There was a brutal heat wave that knocked out the power to their house.

So we went to a nearby gas station that was operating on a generator to try to cool down.

And as I'm watching, the ice cubes fall into the cup so that I could get a nice tall glass of iced tea, it just occurred to me that I hadn't thought twice about whether ice was available there, or if I had gone a mile in the other direction to the local grocery store.

I could have bought a bag of ice there.

Ice is everywhere in this country, and when you travel elsewhere outside the United States, that is not always the case, really.

Now, Americans are uniquely obsessed with the stuff, and I wanted to know why.

And I discovered the history of the ice industry in the United States.

I learned all about it and couldn't believe how fascinating and strange and at times truly hilarious it is.

Okay, so tell me a hilarious story about ice because I'm just thinking, okay, frozen water.

What would be funny about that?

So share that with us.

Well, you know, I could talk about, something that is both funny and also kind of disgusting.

Oh, wow.

I watch that.

In the earliest days of the ice industry, I had to be harvested out of lakes and rivers and these giant blocks.

And it took really strong men with size and ice picks to do it, and horses to pull the big blocks out of the water.

Now, horses being the mammals that they are, yes, frequently let loose their bowels go on the ice, the very ice that would soon touch the mouths of thirsty Americans everywhere.

So we have come a long way.

Wow.

So I'm thinking about what, like the Clean Food Act, you know, what was it, Upton Sinclair?

Did ice fall into that at that particular time?

What?

It did not know that came many, many years later.

Really?

Yeah.

So people were enjoying Dirty Ice for a long period.

It a very long period of time.

Oh my goodness.

And when did ice actually become a thing in America?

Well, the first shipment of ice, from the north to the southern states and territories happened in the early 19th century.

So we're talking about 200, 220 years ago.

And were they just using it for preserving, you know, food or were they actually using it in terms of like putting it in, you know, teas and different like liquids?

Well, we eventually were using it to preserve foods, but the very first uses of ice in the South was actually to make delicious cocktails.

And iced tea.

-Go figure.

Because what it is a cocktail without ice.

Yeah.

So, you know, today when you walk into a craft cocktail bar higher and place where your bartender cares not just about the taste, but about the esthetic, one of the most important ingredients they can pay attention to is the ice in the drink.

But even though that's, a relatively, you know, contemporary phenomenon, it actually hearkens all the way back to the 19th century, when the first bartenders in America were considered celebrities.

Oh my goodness.

And now I'm thinking about all the different ways that we use ice, because you said, like, if people have cuts and scrapes, we put ice on that.

We have ice sculptures, we have the Zamboni making sure that the ice is smooth for hockey.

I mean, and we don't even think twice about it.

No, I mean, I didn't think about it, think about it twice until I wrote the book.

Wow.

Well, all of this is fascinating.

So I need to go get the book.

I'm not going to find the book and tell me the title again.

The title of the book is Ice From Mixed Drinks to skating Rinks a cool history of a hot commodity.

You can get it anywhere.

Books are sold.

And we're back with our discussion about the benefits of joining a book club with Cadie Maas, readers and resources supervisor at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.

And you know, you could be the Reese Witherspoon, Oprah.

You know, we have Jenna Bush Hager.

They all have their own clubs, and you have your own book club.

Oh, that's a lot of pressure.

Yeah, you choose the books if you're in a book club.

I think, my book club, we take turns picking.

So everybody sort of chimes in and gives it, sometimes we do like a Google form where people will submit ideas and then I'll make up like a little survey and everybody can just vote and see what whatever book gets the most votes is the book we go with.

But there's lots of different ways to choose a book.

If you just Google, like book club books or popular book club books, 2024, 2025, you will just you will get tons of resources and lots of information about what book clubs were reading recently.

That is one thing I like to do when we do when we make selections for my book club, because, like the older books are available in paperback, so you're not if you have to buy a book, you don't have to buy a hardcover that's a little more pricey.

But the library also has, book group and a bag kits.

Yeah.

Oh, I said, that is so cool.

Yeah, yeah, I have one here, if you'd like.

Share.

Oh, heck yeah.

And you don't have to buy.

No you don't.

Oh that's amazing I love that.

So these are our but group in a bag.

And they come in this carrying case this handy little bag.

And it comes with ten titles or ten copies of the book.

So like this one is nine women, one dress.

I love how it's a little black dress I see.

Yeah, yeah.

And it is a paperback.

So the I mean, it's kind of heavy, but it's not as heavy as if it had been like hardback cover.

But yeah.

So it comes with all of the books.

And then it also comes with a handy notebook, that gives some information about the book, some background information, and then it also includes your discussion, your discussion questions for the book.

And all of these are curated by our librarians at the library.

And they, write the questions and they do some background research on the book.

So they give you lots of extra information that you wouldn't have if you just picked a book.

You have no excuses.

There are no there's no excuse.

Yeah.

No excuses.

Wow.

Almost 400 titles to choose from.

Oh my gosh.

Oh gosh I love that.

And you learn so much about other people in your book club like us.

We were sitting there talking in the break.

And Amy doesn't want to read the truth because she gets into it so much.

Oh, so I mean, that's really important to know.

Like, and like you say, if somebody doesn't want to read that for whatever reason, you know, they don't have to write and you don't you don't have to feel bad about buying a book that you maybe really didn't want to buy.

And so it's not it's easy to make the investment in the time if you have the time, where when sometimes money isn't a resource available.

So.

Yeah.

Well, and let's talk about the free audible books that you can get at the library, because audible is my friend.

Let's just go there.

And Diane, a friend, love her from the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, freed me during Covid and said, you know, reading audibly counts.

Just like reading virtually.

And I'm like, you know what?

And I ended up doing 52 books during Covid.

Oh my.

So that's amazing.

I was totally into that.

Talk about like, the free resources so people can actually do downloads on their phones or iPads.

Yeah, yeah.

I just want to say that there have been studies done that show that when you listen to an audiobook, your brain, the waves of your brain, your brain waves are the same brain like they make the same patterns that your brain makes.

When you read a physical book.

So it is just, you know.

Yeah, yeah, I was cheating myself.

So no, cheating is, so the library has two digital resources for audiobooks.

We have one is called Libby.

And, you download the Libby app and it's through overdrive.

And, those books are selected by our, library selectors, the people responsible for selecting all of our materials.

So it's a little bit more curated.

And you just download the Libby app to your phone, or you can do it on a desktop computer or laptop computer.

But there is an app for a mobile device, and you just have to have a library card.

So you would go on Libby and create an account, and then you have access to hundreds and hundreds of titles, both audio and e-book.

So if you prefer reading, an e-book, that's one way that a lot of our customers access our materials without ever coming to the physical library.

It's it's really great.

And then we also have another service called hoopla that also offers e-books, audiobooks, but they also offer, digital downloads for streaming.

So you can download TV shows or movies through hoopla.

Those, options or materials on hoopla are not curated curated by our staff.

They're just, it's like a package deal.

It's what you you get, what you get, and the company is the one who provides those materials.

So we don't have a choice in what's available on hoopla.

But, one nice thing about hoopla is that you there is no waitlist, so there's no reserve list.

If it's if it's available on hoopla, you can check it out immediately.

A lot of the more popular things on Libby will have a waitlist, so that is something to keep in mind.

And hoopla has a lot of things that are like a year or so old.

So if we if, like you really wanted to read something that came out a year ago and you never got got it on your reserve list, you can maybe go on hoopla and it might be there for you.

So and it's free.

I agree, that's completely, absolutely free.

Well, Katie, thank you for joining us today.

We really appreciate all the insight that you gave us about joining book clubs or even creating our own book clubs if we're so adventurous.

So thank you for sharing with us here on inspired.

Coming up, a book club discussion with the ladies.

So please stay with us.

Katie shared so much great information about being part of a book club.

Betty Lou and Danielle, what were some of the fun things that you took away from our discussion with Katie?

I love just listening to how excited she was about it, and she knew all those different book clubs, and it is such a great way to meet people, get different people's perspectives about maybe what you thought, you know.

And as we were speaking with her a little bit, a little bit ago, she was just saying, you know, people come in with what the author wants them to maybe think about the book, but then they can share that perspective and others perspectives about the same information might change your mind, might not know.

In doing some research for the show today in New York, they have book clubs that literally have people on a waiting list, which was amazing to me because of like, everybody's reading still because I, you know, I mean, with all the, you know, digital things going on, we forget that people actually enjoy reading.

And there'll be 20 or 30 people in the book club getting together at a local coffee house or some public space and really getting into sharing about books.

And I'm like, how cool would that be?

I have something that is so interactive like that.

So I would be interested in something like that, and it could turn into a great place for singles.

Hello, I, we would love to, you know, be with somebody who is educated and wants to read and, you know, have a little coffee afterwards.

Well, you, you think about it makes a lot of sense because you may be vastly different in every aspect of your life, but you have one thing in common.

You join that book club and you read that book.

So now you have something fairly significant in common.

So that's a great way.

That's oh yeah, it was it just she's got a plan.

I thought it was wonderful.

I think it's I'm, I love to read, but I'm so particular about what I read and I don't have a lot of time to read, so I'm, you know, I'm not a good candidate for a book club for that reason.

Because I'm really, really particular.

Except what I do like to read or listen to are autobiographies.

And I do get the autobiographies as told by the author.

Yes.

Fantastic.

They're they're engaging.

It's it's it's just wonderful.

I love I love those and I also like historical autobiographies as well.

I've read some really interesting things.

But what are some of your favorites that you like?

Oh my gosh.

I read one on qihan.

Sadat Anwar Sadat, widow, which was fascinating.

A woman of Pakistan.

I can't remember her name, but she was the one who was assassinated, and she was, the leader of Pakistan.

I can't remember her name, and I apologize for that.

That was that was just gripping.

It was fascinating.

But I listened those listening to books in, like, Barbra Streisand.

Yes.

Tina Fey.

Oh, yeah, Steve Martin.

Yeah, all those were wonderful.

Those were wonderful.

And it makes me so happy again that audible books count.

Yeah, that freed me so much because like you mentioned, you was like, I thought that was cheating, and I did.

I did too previously, but I definitely didn't need to count it because I just wanted some kind of, I guess, you know, appreciation that I read a book because I'm not stopping down to actually flip a page when I could just allow my imagination to run the sounds that are coming through my headphones.

So it's beautiful.

You know, one of the things I thought also was so cool, you know, she talks about getting kids, and kids can have a book club too.

So if you have kids, you know, hey, yeah, but that is all the time we have today.

We hope you've been inspired by the conversations.

And as a reminder, you can watch this program again at watch.ktwu.org And if you are so inspired and we hope you are to learn more about our guest, find out what's coming up on future shows and get access to additional content.

Please be sure to visit our website at www.ktwu.org/inspire Inspiring women, inspiring you to create new friendships by joining a book club in your area.

Inspiring you on KTWU.

Thank you for watching.

(♪) Inspire is sponsored by the estate of Ray and Anne Goldsmith, the Raymond C and Marguerite Gibson Foundation, and the Louis H. Humphreys Charitable Trust.