Boekenkeuze en motieven van hedendaagse leesclubs in Nederland

Samenvatting

By means of surveys and interviews, motives and practices of present- day Dutch book discussion groups were studied. Six motives for membership were defined and their presence was investigated among members: the social and educational motives turned out to be most important. Next, an inventory of 1220 books that were recently read by 211 groups were related to expectations on four features. Outcomes show that most groups focus on literature that was recently published in Dutch. Prize winning novels are popular among groups as well as among other readers. However, the great dispersion in titles show groups make independent choices and do not just conform to the general reading public. This could be explained by the educational motive that is still important to present-day groups.