Our department for enhancing quality has a new head who thought book clubs would be a fun idea.

Not the Library style one where we meet after work, read (mostly) fiction, and have a great social time.

Nope. These are *serious* reading groups. An academic book, group limited to 6 (though you do get a free copy of the book), meet three times and then meet the author. All very worthy and potentially very dull.

But I thought I'd sign up mainly because I was interested in how it would work and comparing it with the Library book. But of the six titles on offer one of them was about internationalizing higher education, and I thought I could muster some interest in that. And if no 'academic' experience, at least had some practical experience of other countries and cultures - never mind the number of international students who walk through my door.

The reading group's first meeting was today and I was feeling very pleased I'd read half the book already. Plus started on a mind map cover the half I've read so that I could remember the different chapters as otherwise I feared it would all be instantly forgettable. It was marked in ways to show bits I enjoyed, bits I struggled with, bits that were interesting and so on.

Only three of the six of us turned up - plus the 'facilitator'. (Horrible word but at least you know what I mean). Of the four of us, two hadn't really started on the book and the other was finished.

What was particularly amusing given that I generally don't enjoy the social book group picks was that it turned out everyone else hated this one (not enough research too anecdotal), and I'd rather enjoyed it (because it was anecdotal and not too reasarchy!) But we're a bit concerned about how we're going to 'meet the author' and say anything nice. I fear it may be down to me. Just to add to my fanboy embarrassment, it turns out that the best chapter of all was the one that persuaded me to read some 'international reflections' one University produces and the author of that particularly chapter was the editor of the book who is coming to see us.

Ah well, I thought it might be interesting.