Pre-packed judgments or useful additions? Book clubs and reading guides are mushrooming, but is it a good idea to direct readers' responses, asks Anna Carey

Once upon a time, books were simple things.There was a blurb on the back telling you what the book was about, complete with quotations from suitably gushing reviews, and that was about it. Once you'd read the book, there were no suggestions of what to read next, no list of potential topics which could be used if you wanted to talk about the book to someone else. Books were, essentially, self-contained. Now, however, they offer readers a lot more. Thanks to the rise of the amateur book club, an increasing number of publishers are reaching out directly to their readers. All the major British publishers now host special "reading group" websites, complete with author interviews, reading recommendations and, most of all, "reading group guides".

These guides are essentially lists of questions about the book's themes and characters which are intended to guide book-club discussions. And now fans of high-profile authors such as Simon Schama and Douglas Copeland can buy a new paperback and discover an extra section containing author interviews, background information and suggestions for further reading.

It would appear that readers now need their books to come with operating instructions.

The origins of this development were in the US and, in particular, in popular informal book clubs, as championed by television superstar Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey's TV book club pushed the idea into the media spotlight, and the phenomenon has certainly spread to this side of the Atlantic. But while Winfrey promoted the idea of the book club and hugely increased its public profile, she certainly didn't invent it.

Reading group guides first started appearing in the back of mainstream American paperbacks about 15 years ago. The questions in these guides tended to be a little simplistic, along the lines of "why do you think character X reacts badly to her husband's murder?". Now, publishers on this side of the Atlantic have followed suit, with websites offering reading group guides to everything from Nigel Slater's food-centric memoir, Toast, to Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved. But to some book-lovers, these reading guides seem patronising and lazy. After all, do we really need to be told what are the important themes of a book? Can't people decide what they want to discuss themselves? Penguin is one of the few major publishing houses to have decided to avoid the "reader's guide" route.

"We considered doing reading guides, but we did a lot of research before we established the site, and the overwhelming response to those reading guides was negative," says Louisa Symington, who runs Penguin's reading group section.

"People in reading groups thought the discussion topics were far too glib. They wanted recommendations of what to read next, they didn't need advice on what questions to ask about the books."

Some Irish book club members agree. "We've used the Marian Finucane guides a couple of times, but we prefer to come up with our own ideas," says Róisín McDermott, a member of a Celbridge-based book club. Paul Nolan, a Dublin-based book-club member, agrees. "We don't really need any suggestions of what to talk about," he says. "I think we have more than enough to say ourselves!"

But while reading guides may seem pointless to some people, others find them a tremendous help. Maria Dickenson writes the popular reading guides for books featured on Marian Finucane's popular RTÉ Radio 1 book club. The guides are available free in Eason stores shortly before the on-air discussion, and the feedback has been positive.

"One of the problems for book clubs is how to set up a structure," says Dickenson. "In the average book group, you're there with a bunch of friends and so the discussion can just turn into a general chat. We get a lot of people ringing up saying: 'I'm starting a book club but I don't know how to do it! What do we talk about?' The guides are a good way to formalise things a bit."

Reading guides can also be helpful to people who have never really talked about books before. If the last time you discussed a book, even with friends, was when you did the Inter Cert 30 years ago, you may feel a little intimidated at the beginning. Reading guides can give people a language with which to talk about books.

"I think these guides can give people the confidence to pick out the things that they want to talk about," says Dickenson.

Some guides, however, do seem to tell people what to think. The publisher- produced guide to Alice Hoffman's novel, Blue Diary, asserts that although the eponymous diary "features for just a few pages", nevertheless the entire book "reads like a diary" - something which readers might like to decide for themselves. But Rachel Skerry, who orchestrates HarperCollins's reading groups website, points out that not all reading guides are the same.

"I think the American model is much more prescriptive," she says. "American reading guides contain an awful lot of discussion questions and they more or less lead you through the book to a certain conclusion - the conclusion which the author of the reading guide has reached."

Skerry believes that reading guides don't have to be so detailed.

"We don't want to lead people's thinking, we don't want to tell them what's important in the book; we just want to offer them starting points for discussion," she says. "It's just meant to ignite a train of thought - all the discussions will just go the way the groups take them. We just want to raise questions that, in a group, will allow people's ideas to spark off each other."

Publishers, however, are doing more than just issuing reading guides. The Penguin website may not have guides to specific books, but it has an extensive reading group section.

"It's basically run like an online magazine," says Louisa Symington. "We have an author of the month, we have interviews with writers, and we have a 'cult book' every month, which is chosen by Toby Litt. We also have a registry of book clubs so people can get in contact with local clubs."

She encourages Irish book-clubbers to take part in the latter. But HarperCollins has moved beyond the Web with its new imprint, Harper Perennial. All Perennial paperbacks include a "PS" section, extra pages which feature author interviews, background information about the story, further reading suggestions, and even poetry.

"People like to have 'extras'," says Harper Perennial's managing director, Caroline Michel. "PS is the literary equivalent of the 'special edition' DVD."

And however gimmicky they may seem initially, there's something appealing about these extras. Having read William Dalrymple's White Mughals, a story of inter-racial relationships in colonial India, it's undeniably handy to be able to turn a page and read an extensive interview with the author about how he researched the book.

"All our authors have been very enthusiastic about PS," says Michel. "They have complete control over the content, so they've all chosen different things. Some list their favourite books, some go for straightforward interviews, and George Monbiot's The Age of Consent features a debate between the author and Roger Scruton."

Perennial's lists consist of literary fiction and non-fiction and, coincidentally or not, it's all perfect book-club fare. Most book clubs go for what has been described as "light literary fiction", which can be anything from Tracy Chevalier's ubiquitous Girl with a Pearl Earring to Jeffrey Eugenides's Middlesex. These books are readable and enjoyable but have a bit more bite than the average blockbuster. Sales of this kind of book are soaring, largely thanks to book clubs.

It's not hard to see, then, what has prompted this generosity on behalf of publishers. Book clubs are an obvious way to promote books, and the word-of-mouth publicity they generate has kept certain titles on the bestseller lists for months. So important is the book-club market thatmany publishers offer discounts and even free advance proof copies of new titles to reading groups. But spontaneous reader demand is also a factor. All publishers on both sides of the Irish Sea seem to agree that the Internet has hugely increased the amount of reader feedback they receive. E-mail makes contacting a publisher, and even an author, much easier, and websites allow authors to interact with readers in a way that was almost impossible 10 years ago.

Most publishers' reading group sites include authors' answers to e-mailed questions from readers, and many host regular live Webchats with authors. Outside the Web, Penguin regularly organises reading-group days, in which authors visit book groups.

"Authors really like it," says Louisa Symington. "They get to walk into a room full of people who have all read and thought about their book. They're not even trying to sell it, they're just discussing it."

As yet, no independent Irish publishers have launched reading group guides or special websites, but some do help book clubs when asked.

"We do give copies of books to reading groups," says Poolbeg's Paula Campbell, "and we'd certainly consider doing more."

Reading groups and book clubs are increasingly popular here, with almost every local library running regular club meetings. And the popularity of Marian Finucane's book club has hugely boosted sales of its chosen titles - after Sally Vickers's Miss Garnet's Angel was selected by the show, its Eason sales went from about three copies a week to 300.

"People's lives are so hectic that it's nice to be able to sit down and discuss something that allows you to use your brain in a social setting," says Maria Dickenson. "There's personal contact and intellectual stimulation at the same time. But, essentially, reading groups and reading guides are really all about getting more people to talk about books."

It's hard for even the most cynical book-lover to argue with that.