Yes, Virginia, this is a book club. Books & Bars, touting the crown as the largest book club in the Twin Cities (unless you count Talking Volumes, which is, actually, really more of an author talk series), takes place at Bryant-Lake Bowl the second Tuesday of each month.
Books & Bars is moderated by Jeff Kamin, a quick and witty comedian-come-book critic who is as at home on the stage as he is discussing literature. (Not an English major, by the way.) He is a self-avowed 'book nerd' and can wax intelligently on the vagaries of fiction, some poetry and occasionally non-fiction.
For those not familiar, Books & Bars started in 2004, affiliated with Bound To Be Read, the short-lived bookstore in St. Paul. When the store went under, Jeff and his wife missed it so much that he decided to try to revive it. As he puts it, "I didn't want to see a good thing end prematurely, so I took the time to rebuild it, a bionic book club, so to speak." Better, faster, stronger. Okay, maybe not faster. Funner.
What Books & Bars does is elevate the book club idea to the realm of entertainment. So it is fitting that its host spent several years in L.A. doing improv comedy. It takes place in the auditorium of Bryant-Lake Bowl, a paint-it-black long and narrow theater tucked in beside the bowling alley. At the July 13 meeting, when Lev Grossman Skyped in to discuss The Magicians, it was packed to the fire code limit of 98 bodies. Jeff asked some prepared questions, and then took some questions from the online forum at the Books & Bars website. Then he turned the microphone loose on the audience. Grossman, drink in hand, actually seemed to enjoy the chat. He may have been surprised to see all those faces staring back at him. After Grossman signed off, Jeff opened up the floor for more comments, some the non-sugar-coated type.
As some may say, it's difficult to have a real discussion with 98 people. First timer Sarah (Jeff calls them 'fresh hands') said, "I have two other clubs, but I really like the forum aspect. There's an intimacy and an anonymity. I'll be back." Generally, the comments were insightful and it was clear that most of the people had read the book. The crowd was roughly one-third newcomers, and Jeff does rely on some of the old-timers to help him decide on books. Jeff's duties range from moderating to picking the books to solving technical difficulties (no sound for the first few minutes on Tuesday's chat) to carting extra chairs.
There's more to come from Books & Bars. I have plans for other shows and series. We're still reinventing the book club.
The club has three sponsors at this time: Surly Brewing Co., which provided $2 Surly Furious at the last meeting, Bryant-Lake Bowl, which provides the venue, and Magers & Quinn Booksellers. Back in 2005, when Jeff was trying to restart things, Mary Magers at M&Q expressed interest in getting the store involved. So now Magers & Quinn has a bookselling table at each event, where they will happily sell you that night's book and the next couple selections, so you can get started. They are happy because they sell about 75 books each month for the events.
Until recently, the Onion was a sponsor, too. But now that there are packed houses for almost every meeting (with an experiment last winter trying two meetings per month - still packed), the advertising is no longer needed. So Magers & Quinn has just started paying Jeff a portion of what they used to spend on advertising to do the gig. He is still an independent, but luckily for the Twin Cities literary scene, he can earn a little for his time. But hey, he still takes tips. And the occasional beer. "Will moderate for food," he says. So place a bill in the Moderator Tip Jar, should you go.
Jeff also relies heavily on Magers & Quinn manager Jay Peterson, stating, "Jay is a staple of our events and knows our members and vice versa. He is my main go-to guy on book decisions. I bounce my ideas and lists off him more than anyone." Jay also helps secure author appearances, whether live or via Skype, through the store's contacts.
In addition to picking the books and coordinating with Magers & Quinn, Jeff is in charge of promoting the club. He has a healthy following on Twitter (405 followers for @jefe23), Facebook (862 like it), and the club's website, where he runs a lively forum and a blog. He also sends out a newsletter to 900 subscribers and does random interviews (like this one).
In fact, this Friday night there is a Tweetup at Storefront-in-a-box at 2441 Lyndale Ave S in Minneapolis. This week's tenant is a literary trio: PaperDarts Magazine, Replacement Press, and Books & Bars. The Tweetup is from 6 to 8pm, BYOB. Jeff says, "Make a new friend IRL. Follow @jefe23 on Twitter for updates/hash tag: #booksandbars for tweets." Peruse the art gallery or take part in the book exchange. Following the Tweetup will be Storefront Stories, with readings by John Jodzio, Sarah Askari, Dennis Cass, Maggie Ryan Sandford and Ethan Rutherford.
The next book club meeting is Tuesday, August 24, which is off-schedule due to the Fringe Festival. They'll be discussing Dave Eggers' Zeitoun. In September, it's back to the usual second Tuesday, talking about Blankets by Craig Thompson (a graphic novel; get it for half price at Magers & Quinn), and in October it will be This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper (with author video chat). Discussions start at 7pm, but doors open at 6pm. At the last meeting, the chairs were nearly full by 6:15. Get there early!
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