My dad has been involved in his book club, The Hotel Literati, for about 15 years. Talking to any of the members, it’s clear how important this club is to this collection of largely schoolteachers. Originally the book club started with just a couple teachers from St. Mary’s high school.
I joined them for their annual holiday book exchange at a bar social at the end of November. It was here I learned about the history of the club, as well as some tips for prospective book club-ers.
Mike McCay, the appointed leader or “Commish” of the group, gave some insight into the success.
“You do not need the microphone at all times, it’s not the only way to lead,” he said.
Mike is quiet yet steadfast in his leadership. It’s become a bit of a joke that Mike is almost an authoritarian leader, but of course this is all just fun and games. At the end of the day, his say goes—he sends out the monthly email reminders for the club and does a great job of keeping things going.
Mike started the club shortly after the birth of his twins. He had gone an entire year without reading a book and realized that he just hadn’t made the time for it anymore.
With the stress of school and work, Mike needed a deadline to get some reading done. Additionally, he was jealous of his wife, as she was a part of multiple book clubs—it was the only way for her to get out of the house!
The Hotel Literati meets the last Thursday of every month at a bar; the venue has changed over the years. Mike found it important that the book club meeting was at the same time every month and wanted to make sure it wasn’t at someone’s house. He tried to stress the importance of finding a neutral place where the discussion of the book in question can shine.
They found that the magic number is around 8-13 members. Any more than that, and not everyone gets a chance to speak. Or if they do, they are probably just re-iterating an opinion heard by another person.
Mike mentioned that the best meetings are the ones that have interesting and friendly yet heated discussions, where everyone has a different opinion. If a book comes around and everyone loves it, it’s usually an easy meeting. A book like Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole got a good rise.
Mike said meetings are a chance to talk about the book, but also a chance to connect with people. There’s usually a pre and post period during every meeting where friends will catch up, grab a beer and socialize about things other than books.
The article would be remised to speak about a book club without mentioning some of the hall of famers: One of the best books in the backlog was Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders.
“We had a little tournament of books, based on the premises—we narrowed it down to Lincoln in the Bardo. It got tens and it got zeroes. Everyone either loved or hated it—[which was great],” Mike said.
Mike also spoke for his love for Anthony Marra’s novels The Tsar of Love and Techno and A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, as well as Habibi by Craig Thompson—one of the graphic novels the group did.
Habibi was also one of the most beautifully designed books that they encountered. The club usually reads a graphic novel during June. Most of the members are teachers, and since June is report card month, it’s generally a little harder to find time to read.
The only other month that doesn’t have a monthly read is December. In preparation for the holidays, members conduct a book exchange. At the end of this exchange, we would go around the table, and each member would make a case for which book they thought should be the next month’s read.
Mike spoke of the importance of letting these traditions flow naturally. Observe, and try to take action, but don’t force things to happen. In a setting like this that is largely a passion project and hobby, it’s important to not let things feel tired.
It’s clear that the Hotel Literati is important to its members. Mike told me that a running joke in the book club is that one of their members, “this is the best thing of my life,”—to which the rest of the members of the book club replied “You’ve been married for 30 years, and have two kids!”.
All jokes aside, having a place like this to discuss creativity, arts and politics among your friends is important. If anything, it’ll help you become more well read over a couple of beers.
The Hotel Literati meets the last Thursday of every month. Membership is very exclusive, and they are NOT accepting new members.
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