Colleen Szpytek has found a world of knowledge in Orland Park, without entering a classroom.
Szpytek, 59, a mother of five, has participated in book club discussions at the Orland Park Library since the group started in 1989. Over the years she has read mysteries, fiction, classics and travel books, among others.
“The book club widens your horizons because I would not have read some of the books on my own,” said Szpytek, who usually reads about a dozen books a year. “This has been a real springboard for learning for me. I highly recommend it.”
Szpytek is among 50 Orland Park residents who participate in the library’s book club, which meets in two sessions, afternoon and evening, on the third Thursday of the month. The Tinley Park library, which has hosted its book club discussion for about 10 years, draws from 6 to 22 participants every fourth Tuesday of the month.
The Orland group meets from September through May and the Tinley group meets from January through November; both skip December. The Orland Park library requires participants to have a library card while the Tinley Park library sets no requirements for participation, though a card is needed to borrow a book. Librarians for both groups arrange for a full supply of books to borrow by tapping into the resources of the Suburban Library System, to which both libraries belong.
Reading with a purpose
“I read the books with the discussion in the back of my mind,” said Ellen Pavol, an Orland Park resident who attends discussions at both libraries. “It makes you read a book with greater attention and focus.”
Pavol was living in Tinley Park when the village’s library started its group, then joined the Orland group after moving to the town in 1997, becoming the only person to participate at both libraries.
“One is not enough,” said Pavol, a retired teacher. “I like reading and talking about books. The Tinley group meets year-round and the Orland one doesn’t and I like to go to discussions in the summer.”
In the last two years, the Orland Park library group has read Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises,” Mitch Albom’s “Tuesdays With Morrie” and Robert McNamara’s “In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam.”
On the bookshelf
So far this year, the Tinley Park book club has read titles such as “Raising Holy Hell” by Bruce Olds and “Fasting, Feasting” by Anita Desai. This summer will bring Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five.”
Adult services librarian Sheila Sosnicki has coordinated the group discussions at the Orland Park library since 1993. She picks the books, which each year include a biography, a classic, a mystery, a non-fiction book and four novels, though she shies from horror and science fiction, genres she doesn’t particularly enjoy.
At Tinley Park, six librarians pick the books and lead the group on a voluntary basis, rotating by month. With the schedule set through August, the group will read five works of fiction.
At both libraries, groups meet for about an hour, during which the moderator asks participants for their general reactions to the book before posing questions to elicit discussion.
In March, the Orland Park group discussed Stephen Ambrose’s “Undaunted Courage,” the story of Lewis and Clark’s expedition through the Western territories acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. During the evening session, Szpytek joined Sosnicki and six others in discussing the book, something she had anticipated since the year’s schedule was released because she had read the book in 1999 and vacationed at some of the expedition sites.
Sharing photos and thoughts
Szpytek shared pictures of her trip and the group discussed the relationships among Native Americans and members of the expedition party members; the expedition leaders, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, along with President Thomas Jefferson, who commissioned the journey; and Sacagawea, the Indian woman who served as the party’s guide.
“Don’t you think this was a blessed trip, getting there [to the Pacific Ocean] and only losing one man?” Szpytek asked.
“Early on in the book, Ambrose compares the discovery of the Louisiana Purchase [territory] to be as important as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence,” said Bonnie Frainer of Orland Park. “He gives it a huge amount of importance in the development of the United States.”
Good discussion
Sosnicki said the discussion on that March night was good because the group was “interested in the book, how the author wrote it and the trip itself.”
She seeks “something more than a great read” when selecting books.
“The author has to be saying something in order for you to have a discussion,” she said. “If he is just moving his story along, there is nothing to talk about. If the author isn’t going to be talking about political, social or moral issues, there is nothing to discuss.
“I think sometimes that a non-fiction book is more easily discussed because you can talk about the history of the event, the real people of the event, and you bring your knowledge of the book’s subject to the discussion. So there is often a lot more to talk about than with a fiction book.”
Robin Lauren, head of the reference and adult services at the Tinley Park library, has coordinated the group for almost two years and led discussions since 1994. She usually moderates three to four discussions a year.
“A lot of the people in the group are mystery readers, but we seldom read mystery,” Lauren said. “We have read a lot of different genres. We like to have a variety of authors and time periods and styles and genres.”
Cultural clashes
The book that recently generated a lot of discussion is “Angela’s Ashes” by Frank McCourt, she said. The book, a memoir of McCourt’s impoverished Irish upbringing, is candid in discussing his often-dysfunctional family life. Also, the influence of the Catholic Church prompted discussion that became very emotional.
“People have strong feelings about their Irish roots and the Catholic Church and the author said some things that were negative about the church and the country,” Lauren said. “There were people who took exception to that because they thought he was too critical of the church and the country and his mother as well.”
Ruth Stamper of Tinley Park has attended the discussions at her village’s library for four years. She reads five books a week.
“It is interesting to hear other people’s opinions, even though you have your opinions,” Stamper said. “The basis of a good book club is the shared knowledge that people bring and the outcome of the book.”
Book clubs also are offered at several chain bookstores in Orland Park. The Barnes & Noble store has had a fiction group since it opened in the fall of 1999, said community relations coordinator Kathy Horosinski. A military history discussion group is planned for the summer, she said.
The Orland Park Borders bookstore has three book groups, open to anyone, said Kristen Sohacki, a marketing manager at the Oak Brook store. One group discusses contemporary fiction, another reviews horror books and a third talks about Civil War history books.
A variety of topics
According to group leaders, most book club members are women, though men run the horror and Civil War groups at Borders, the group leaders said.
Don Pluto has participated in the Orland Park Library discussions for more than four years, in part because it helps him in his job as an English teacher at Kennedy High School in Chicago.
“It forces me to read,” Pluto said of the book club, adding that having to grade papers and read books for his classes takes a toll. “I’m at a point where reading is a chore. This forces me to read things that I normally wouldn’t. Our group is very intelligent and the members will catch a lot of points in a book that I will miss.”
Szpytek said the book discussions have inspired her travels. After reading books about Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S Truman, she visited their presidential libraries.
“It means so much more to talk about it after reading the book,” said Szpytek, who enjoys biographies and adventure stories.
“It is not only the books that we discuss that I enjoy, but we bring a lot of life experiences into the discussion. And sometimes we get off into other subjects and books, which gives you ideas for further reading.”
Chapter and verse
The following are book clubs that meet in Orland Park and Tinley Park:
Orland Park Public Library, 14760 Park Lane; 708-349-8138.
Group meets at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month.
Tinley Park Public Library, 17101 S. 71st Ave.; 708-532-0160.
Group meets at 7 p.m. on fourth Tuesday of the month.
Barnes & Noble, 160 Orland Park Pl., Orland Park; 708-226-9092.
Fiction group meets at 7 p.m. on second Monday of the month.
Borders Books and Music, 15260 S. La Grange Rd., Orland Park; 708-460-7566.
Contemporary fiction group meets at 10 a.m. on the third Friday of the month. Horror group meets at 5:30 p.m. on the last Sunday of the month.
Civil War group meets at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of every other month (the next meeting of the Civil War group is July 18).
— Ken O’Brien
