Book Clubs

The organization of this passage can be best described as

• personal narrative followed by analysis

• empirical data followed by conjecture

• non judgmental explanation of a current phenomenon followed by a question

• descriptive analysis followed by a final judgment

• condemnation of a practice followed by partial acceptance

In context, the author places the term "book club" in quotation marks in lines 3 and 9 in order to

• show that these are humorous examples

• highlight how formal some of these clubs are

• reveal that the book clubs that appear online or on television are unsatisfactory

• suggest that the term is being broadened beyond it's original meaning

• imply that many book club members do not like the term

The first paragraph (lines 1-15) serves to

• explain why the author enjoys one way of reading

• describe the extension of a particular activity into non-traditional areas

• make generalizations that will be developed later

• explore ways in which people can structure free time

• detail the power of media and mass marketing to censor

According to lines 23-26, Stephanie Nolen's primary criticism of book clubs is that they

• are too programmed

• do not offer enough variety

• cause readers to be anxious

• overlook many classics

• forego quality for quantity

The clubs referred to in line 39 are discussed in

• the online discussion group of a particular book club

• a study sponsored by book club participants

• an editorial in a Canadian magazine

• a guide written by Elaine Daspin

• an article published in the Wall Street Journal

The "recent book-club-guides" (lines 45-46) tend to emphasize

• how book clubs need to be structured and regular in order to succeed

• how difficult it is to start a book club in New York

• how often even the best book clubs fail

• the variety of reasons that people have for starting book clubs

• the challenges of selecting books for discussion

The last paragraph (lines 49-64) marks a shift from

• popular to academic contexts

• supported to unsound generalizations

• impersonal to personal examples

• subtle irony to explicit sarcasm

• neutral to negative characterization of book clubs

The function of lines 52-58 ("Yet despite ... abstractions") is to

• argue of the value of a particular literary theory

• explain how important it is not to make abstract judgments

• point out a discrepancy between teaching practices and literary theory

• highlight the demand for a way to measure emotional responses to texts

• explore the author's views about reading in isolation

The final sentence (lines 62-64) serve to

• conclude an argument begun in the first paragraph

• suggest a probably cause for an ongoing phenomenon

• argue that publishers need to pay more attention to book clubs

• offer a final analysis of the phenomenon described in the second paragraph

• explain why the author has chosen a particular field of study

One function of sentence 3 (lines 8-10) and footnote 1 is to

• give an example of a group that earns money by reading

• show that book clubs are not intended for literary scholars

• note the connection between marketing and book clubs

• cite one book club as a particular model of excellence

• suggest the benefits of online discussion groups