Talk About Books A Study of Reading Groups

Over the last two decades, reading groups have become increasingly popular, whether this is online, through the mass media, or in face-to-face contexts. In light of this explosion of popularity, this ethnographic study focuses on several reading groups based across a variety of settings: public libraries, public houses and in readers' homes. Reading groups are found to be highly ritualized and potentially competitive places in which matters of identity and taste are often at stake. The groups studies are conceptualized as communities of practice, and the literary interpretations and evaluations offered within each group are shown to a product of shared norms established by this group.