[originaltext] No one is sure how many Americans belong to reading groups ca

No one is sure how many Americans belong to reading groups called book clubs. Yet publishers and bookstores report that more and more people throughout the United States are joining them.
    (32)Most of the clubs work the same way. Members read the same book at the same time. Then they meet to talk about the book. Members may be friends or people who live near each other. Or, they may be people who work together. Some book clubs develop from other organizations. Religious and community groups often establish book clubs. Some Americans belong to reading groups on the computer service known as the Internet. These groups include people around the world who communicate about books they read. (33)These people send electronic mail instead of meeting to discuss books. Book clubs may be for only women or only men. Or, they can be for husbands and wives together. Some are family groups where parents attend with their children. Children may belong to book clubs of their own. (34)Most reading groups study books by a number of writers. However, some groups read the work of a single writer, usually one that has been famous for a while. (35) Other groups may be named for an important person in the work of the write, like a Sherlock Holmes Club. Holmes is the great British crime investigator created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Members of these book clubs often are experts about their chosen reading materials. For example, one member of a Holmes reading group can identify almost every person in every Sherlock Holmes story.