Monthly Book Club/Auction

So as I started to explain in the Eid thread, I'd like to gauge interest in starting a monthly book club/book auction. When I lived in Japan, we did something like this, and it served a number of purposes.

First, it got people together to socialize. As we were all spread out in the prefecture, and didn't get to speak English so much, it was a chance to have an adult-level conversation as well as connect once a month.

Second, it helped us keep our bookshelves clear of things we had bought, read, but didn't really want to keep/move.

Third, as the money went to charity (we had a set charity), we were helping the community around us. As we were overpaid English monkeys (arguably-- you also have to take environment into consideration when figuring someone's pay), it was a way to donate a small amount of our salaries to a good cause.

So here's how it works:
-Every month, we select a location to meet. It ideally should be a place which would allow us to talk to one another at normal tones, and have a table big enough for us to spread out our wares. Also having enough parking, a varied menu, and reasonable prices are important.

-If we want, we pick a book of the month to read and discuss. Owing to the difficulty of getting books here, except for some things, we might revise this strategy. Alternatively, we could do a round-table where we bring what we're reading and give a rundown.

-If you want, you bring items you don't want to keep and put them in the book auction. Bidding could go in one-riyal increments, but if people really want to get rid of their dirham coins, those certainly could be brought as well for bidding power.

Now, here's the thing. You can bring nothing and cart the whole lot home. You can bring one book and cart home 4. You can bring a whole lot and carry nothing back. It's just whatever happens. There's no reciprocation rule of sorts, where you bring 4 and get 4. It's whoever wins the bidding. As you have figured out, I'm sure.

You keep track of how much you owe the auction. Then when we're done you count out your money and put it in a wine glass/box/whatever we have. Every bit of that money then goes to charity. We can choose to donate to a set charity each month or spread the wealth.

More often than not, a person who 'won' a book read it and returned it to the book auction eventually.

You can choose to bring books to put in the auction or not. If you don't have anything you want to 'donate' to the auction, you can still come anyway, and bid for a good cause. Or just come to socialize.

So is anyone interested in doing this?

If you are, since I am relatively new in Doha, would you please think about, and advise, on the following:
1. Good places to meet which have beverages and food, which would be conductive to our plan;
2. A good time of the week, as well as time of day. For instance, I like to dive during the weekend, but evenings all week are pretty good.
Having a set day each month--say, the third Wednesday, or third Sunday evening, is helpful. But it's our club. We do what we want.
3. A charity or charities we could donate the book auction proceeds to. It would be ideal to have something nearby, I think.

Someone suggested Room to Read. There's also Red Crescent, from what I've seen in the mall. What else can we think of?

So at our first meeting we would iron out where the money was going.

Is anyone interested in having this organized? This week is pretty well shot for me already, but how about something next week?