The group members' original motive for gathering was simple. They wanted to share their passion for books while getting a break from their husbands and children. But two decades later the women in the club have shared much more than a good read.

It all began with their first book, Pentimento by Lillian Hellman. Back then the women were in their 30s or 40s. Now, the women are in their 50s and 60s, and the days of carpooling to sports or attending Girl Scout troop meetings together have been replaced with talk of retirement and planning vacations.

Collectively, the group has supported each other through illnesses, spouses who have died, divorces and their children's marriages. Five of the women from the original group still remain. And over time, as members moved away or decided to pursue other interests, new members joined by word of mouth.

For many members, the club has been an important, even sacred, place, where monthly meetings became opportunities to discuss personal and professional issues among friends.

"My husband died recently, and this group has really provided me a wonderful support system," Liz Karren says. "It's been a big help."

At the group's July 12 meeting, everyone gathered at the home of Joann O'Loughlin—one of the founding members—to drink iced tea and eat a potluck dinner in her dining room. After an hour of socializing over salad, chicken and sandwiches, they moved to the living room to start their discussion of Alice Sebold's bestseller, The Lovely Bones. Sebold's debut novel is the story of a young teenage girl who is a victim of a serial killer and tells her story from heaven.

The women only have a few ground rules for the Monday Night Book Club. First, the book chosen should be paperback, because hardcovers have become too expensive. And second, the person recommending that month's book should come to the meeting having read it and equipped with information about the author, questions to pose to the group and book reviews from sources such as Amazon.com.

"Being in this club gave me a reason to read," O'Loughlin says. "When my kids were younger, there were so many other things I had to do, but the book club kept me reading."

Since those early days, O'Loughlin has come up with a motto: "Life's too short to read bad books!"

Yet some of the members, including Gerri Hodson, admit to pulling more than one "all nighter" to finish a book in time for book club. Some even laughingly admitted to watching the movie beforehand.

"Sometimes I haven't finished a book until after our discussions because it inspired me to go back and finish the book," O'Loughlin says.

Fellow member Mary Jean Wagner says she likes the balance of socializing and book banter during the meetings.

"I'd probably never finish a book if I didn't belong to this book club," she says. "It's good to have a goal."

Hodson jokes that the group will continue to meet until there is a "last man standing." O'Loughlin chimes in that all the women will have to move into the same retirement home some day when they get older so they can continue the club.

Hodson adds, "We are in this for the duration."

The Monday Night Book Club may be one of the longest standing book clubs, but it isn't the only option in town. Those looking for a group to join have several choices, including one held the fourth Monday of every month at 7 p.m. at Willow Glen Books.

This women's-only club has met for four years in the back of the Lincoln Avenue bookstore. Willow Glen Books book group facilitator Kristina Krause attests that everyone who goes to the gatherings "has been consistently devoted to the book and to reading."

There is a core group of six women who meet, but the group occasionally expands to as many as 16. The book selections vary between nonfiction and fiction works. Krause, 44, also says the group has eclectic interests, so she aims for paperbacks suggested by the group.

Since the meeting time is usually limited to two hours, she says those attending the group prefer to stay on track talking about the book instead of using the book group as a social hour. Members typically tend to be at least 30, but the club is open to all ages.

"We try to stay away from popular fiction and 'beach reads,'" she adds. "But we try to take into consideration anything that is requested."

Those who often attend include a psychotherapist, teachers, a technical writer and a few people who work in the high-tech industry.

The structure isn't formal, but Krause—who reads more than 50 books each year—says she comes to the group prepared with questions in case the group is lacking discussion topics.

Willow Glen Books employee Margo Lawrance says book clubs that choose to purchase their monthly selection at the shop receive a 20 percent discount when buying six or more books. The store also helps local book clubs by displaying monthly selections on a table and labeling them "book club," with the display easily visible from the entrance. The table not only provides an easy place for clubs to find their book but also a good place to look for a new book to read.

"Once Oprah announces her book for the month, we start selling a ton of those books," Lawrance says.

One book club that often takes advantage of Oprah's Book Club selections is a group of professional woman, including Stone Church Rev. Rebecca Kuiken and Willow Glen resident and real estate agent Leslie Williams. The group has met once a month for the past six years for dinner and discussion at a restaurant that ties in with the book. When they read Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, the group met for dinner at a Japanese restaurant.

Williams says the book club focuses on contemporary fiction. She has kept a journal of all the books read during the past 12 years, mainly so she wouldn't forget all the titles. She says to have a thriving book group, she's learned a couple of lessons: Members need to have similar tastes and the willingness to commit for a long period of time. She's also found that books need to have enough substance to warrant a good discussion.

"The best books for a book group are those that are controversial in some way, because the discussion will be lively," she says. "If everyone just agrees that the book was great, the discussion may not be as interesting as when there's a character or theme that people can passionately react to."

She sites Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes as a prime example. Williams says everyone in the group enjoyed the book but it "didn't provoke much dialogue in terms of discussion."

Williams likes the group because the members do their research about the books and take it seriously. She feels pressure each month to finish her book in time for the meeting, but only because she "feels a certain responsibility to the group to come prepared."

On the second Monday of each month, these six woman in their 40s and 50s regularly share their life along with their book reviews.

"We have a really dynamic group that gets revved up and very passionate," Williams says. "That's the way I like it."

Another local group that takes its reading seriously is the Silicon Valley Book Club. Sandy Sherrill, Willow Glen resident and group founder, says the group has met since 1993 on the first Tuesday of each month at a member's home.

The club's meeting format is similar to those of the others, with people asked to bring in questions and information about the author, but its selection process is unique. Once a year, all the members bring approximately three books that they would like to see on the reading list. Along with each book, members are asked to bring an abstract describing the book and criticisms of it. When all the members have finished selling their books to the group, the book names are put in a hat, and book titles are picked at random. Sherrill, 42, says all the members end up getting at least one of their book choices on the group's list.

"I'm very proud of the fact that it has lasted as long as it has," Sherrill says.

The group ranges in age from late 20s to mid-50s. She says the members' "litmus test" for each book is whether "they want to throw it against a wall" by the time they get to the meeting, hoping instead that the chosen book is a winner.

For those tempted to join a book club but uncertain about hooking up with strangers, they can always organize their own group or consider a place like St. Francis Episcopal Church on Pine Avenue, which offers two different choices: Share a Book Club and the Saint Francis Book Club.

Share a Book Club usually congregates at noon on the first Monday of each month in the church's Wickham Room. This book club asks those who attend to bring books they've enjoyed to share with others. Since the club meets during the afternoon, the members are usually retired people or professionals on their lunch hour, but occasionally younger readers visit the group.

"Bring what you like and share it with others," group organizer Stephenie Cooper says. "My ability to participate in this club is the upside of being laid off from a job."

Cooper, 51, worked at Hewlett Packard and says her job loss was the result of her position being outsourced to India. Although this circumstance has been frustrating, it has also opened her schedule to attending an ordination school to become a deacon and provided more reading time.

Fellow member Joanne Farlow says she joined the club because she "loves books and loves to read."

She brought The Cat Who Smelled a Rat by Lilian Jackson Braun, A Painted House by John Grisham and Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher to lend to the group.

Cooper brought Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman for Bob Homer because it's a book about World War II and she remembered that Homer has been struggling with why countries get into wars.

The Saint Francis Book Club meets the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the Fran Williamson Memorial Library. And, there is still time to read the August book selection, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling and join in on the August 24 discussion. But come prepared: at the previous month's discussion of Holes by Louis Sachar, Cooper says an 8-year-old danced circles around the adults with her reading analysis, and she may show up at the August meeting.

For more information about the Willow Glen Books Book Club, 1330 Lincoln Ave., call 408.298.8141. To learn more about the Monday Night Book Club, call Liz Karren at 408.266.2827. For more information about the Share a Book Club or Saint Francis Book Club, visit http://www.stfrancisepiscopalchurch.org/education/BookClub.html or call 408.292.7090.