Record Number of Guests Attend Book Club Luncheon

A record 72 guests attended Bayport-Blue Point Library’s sixth annual summer book club luncheon last week.

Created by recently retired librarian Jocelyn McIntee six years ago, the club is an informal way for avid readers to share their thoughts with other book enthusiasts- participants even have the chance to win prizes at the close of the program.

“Our sense is that this should be fun,” McIntee said. “Interestingly enough, reviews over the years have become more sophisticated."

Just forty people participated when McIntee first established the club. This summer, there were 226 people signed up, reading a total of 816 books, and 312 of those books were reviewed as “highly recommended.”  Only 17 books were not recommended at all. McIntee thinks the program’s expansion was due mainly to word of mouth.

New librarian and book club advisor Wendy Bennett said club participants sign up, read and review up to eight library books over the course of the summer, and submit their reviews for prizes.  There are no restrictions on books, as long as the book is from a library in the Suffolk County system. 

Resident Gloria McCullagh has participated in the reading club since its inception. She said it helps her schedule reading time during a busy season.

“In the summer it keeps me reading,” she said.  “I tend to read a lot in the fall and winter, but used to fall off in the summer because there’s so much going on.  This way I have a structure that gets me to keep reading.” 

Her favorite tome this time around? My Name is Mary Sutter, a historical fiction book about the Civil War by Robin Oliveira.

Not only does the club create a forum for participants to discuss completed books, but it provides incentives for members to read.  Three completed book reviews garner members an invitation to the end-of-summer luncheon. For six completed book reviews, members win a Bayport-Blue Point Library tote bag- to lug around all those books, of course.

Members who completed eight reviews won a gift card to Barnes and Noble. Each review a member turned in also allowed them to enter a raffle ticket for a gift basket chock-full of books and DVDs.  The basket was raffled off at the luncheon, but an absent reader won the prize.

Resident Elizabeth Kirkland participated in the summer reading club for the first time this year.  “I like that it got me back in the habit of reading,” she said.  “I wanted to read all eight books, so I had a goal.” 

Her favorite book of the summer was Snowflower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See.

Each member who attended the luncheon received a handbook compiling all the reviews received over the course of the summer.  As the luncheon wound down for another year, participants milled through the library stacks, choosing highly recommended books to take home.