Prague Book Clubs

There are some who think book clubs are boorish and littered with arts and letters a-holes; others are of the mind that any institution or person (including the much-maligned Oprah) that encourages our slack-jawed, social networking culture to crack a book, can´t be all bad. I fall somewhere in between the two. As an avid reader, I´ve always been attracted to the latent promise of the book club – insightful conversations shared over steaming beverages and the pleasant shush of pages – to mixed results: the last group I joined was marked by quarreling and disastrous novel picks; we disbanded shortly after Atlas Shrugged. I haven´t joined another club since.

For one, there´s the book club of the Municipal Library of Prague; organized by Czech library staff with a passion for the English language and attended by Czech and native-speakers alike. They´ve tackled a wide range of genres/authors since their first meeting in January, including fantasy writer Terry Pratchett in February and, this month, Ian McEwan´s popular Atonement (edging out a Haruki Murakami novel in an on-line vote). April´s meeting is slated for the 22nd at 18:30. Fairy-tales – characters, symbols, archetypes – will be up for discussion. Check the site periodically for updates.

The International Woman’s Association of Prague (IWAP) organizes the city´s largest, longest-running reading group. Beginning around 1995 with just a handful of members, it currently numbers 40 (averaging 20 per meeting) with a waiting list for membership. The club gathers the second Friday of every month at places as diverse as Café Slavia to the Rudolfinum to discuss fiction, biographies and Czech works in translation. Laurie Barnes, the group´s organizer, says that limitations do exist within such a large group but, for the most, part members, “Come away feeling intellectually energized.” Films and author visits contribute to the club´s ongoing success. IWAP membership is required to join.

The Globe Bookstore and Café´s newly launched reading group, Fortnightly, meets every two weeks at 19:30 and welcomes anyone with a desire to discuss authors as cerebral as Nabokov and Jonathan Safran Foer (recent nominees for book-of-the-month). February´s discussion of Bohumil Hrabal´s Too Loud a Solitude spanned two meetings; on March 25 the club will dissect Milan Kundera´s first novel, The Joke. The Globe is also pleased to launch a reading corner for kids during its Sunday brunch. Time is still TBD so check their site before abandoning your wee ones to mimosas and Eggs Benedict.

Prague´s English-language bookstores – Anagram, Big Ben, The Globe, Shakes – support reading groups by offering discounts of up to 20 percent for titles ordered in bulk. Different stores have different policies and different stores are affiliated with different clubs but all of them offer discounts to those who buy multiple titles. Amazon will ship books (new ones) to the Czech Republic, but beware added tariffs for orders over $50. See their international shipping policy here. A new feature allows customers to pre-pay duty. My recent Amazon tab looked like this:

A discussion of book clubs can´t ignore the question of the ultimate club, one that encourages the entire city to stick its collective nose in a book. With the Municipal Library and the Magnesia Litera awards committee initiating citywide reading campaigns among the Czech-speaking population, I´m left to wonder if the rest of us will get in on the act. I picture identical books in a variety of translations splayed across cafe tables from Anděl to Žižkov; readers sharing nods of appreciation over matching tomes at bus stops and on trams. A city immersed in the common theme of reading – the heart and soul of any book club, big or small.

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