Book clubs are not like fight clubs, you can talk about them and Kingston's Lucy Harrison has done just that with us. She gives GRAHAM MOODY the lowdown on what really happens behind closed doors at her book club's monthly gatherings.

Graham Moody: How many are in your book club and where and how often do you meet?

Lucy Harrison: There are 10 of us and we meet at my sister-in-law's house every time. We've occasionally done forays to other people's houses but we've become creatures of habit and soon gravitate back to our regular venue. We meet every month, except for January, when several of us are in the panto at the cornerHOUSE in Surbiton.

GM: How many books do you think you have read in the book club?

LH: About 13 or 14 a year even though we have a break for January as in August we often resort to choosing a second book, known as the 'bonus' book. This is when the debate about what book to read next becomes too heated and we just can't make a decision and it's way past 11pm. We meet mid-week, so late nights don't really work.

GM: How do you set about choosing the next book?

LH: It's often my favourite part of the evening and we have introduced various rules over the years. Reaching a decision about our next read can be rather drawn out. We haggle. "OK, if I agree to this one, then the next one needs to be...", "Only one of my books has been chosen, it's my turn...", "Well I'm just going to keep suggesting this one every month until..." You get the picture.

GM: What do you gain from being a member of a book club?

LH: Being in a book club means I read all sorts of books I'd never have thought of reading. Where else would an account of child abuse on the South Pacific island of Pitcairn come my way? It wouldn't have, and it turned out to be a fascinating tragic account of what can happen in isolated self-running communities.

GM: Describe a typical book club evening.

LH: Food and drinks take up the first three hours and then about 10.30 we have a quick chat about the book and spend the rest of the time discussing what the next book will be. My brother calls it the non-reading book club, as I'm afraid it's rare that we've all actually read the book. I heard of one book club where you're not allowed to attend if you haven't read the book. That wouldn't work very well for us; attendance would be pretty low.

GM: What book prompted the most lively debate?

LH: We Need to Talk about Kevin, a work of fiction by Lionel Shriver, reigns. We were split down the middle. Eva is the mother of Kevin who goes on a high-school killing spree. Knowing something was wrong with her son, should she have done more to prevent what happened, or was she a victim as well? It didn't occur to me anyone could interpret it so differently to me. The film of the book comes out next year, so the debate will no doubt continue.