Are you asking yourself if you want to start a book club?
Maybe, you’re a book lover looking to meet fellow book lovers. Maybe you’re not reading as much as you’d like and want to encourage yourself to pick up a book more often. Maybe you are in a rut with your choice of books and want some inspiration on what to read next? Maybe, you already have a group of friends interested in getting together to talk books and don’t know what to do next. Or maybe you’ve never even thought about starting a book club, but now you’re thinking it’s a great idea.
Whatever your reason for starting a book club, you’ve come to the right place! Running a book club is not only a fun way to enjoy books and meet new people, it’s also a great way to learn new perspectives and participate in some healthy debate.
To make it easier for you I have put together some of the book club tips I found, when I embarked on my journey of starting a book club to get your book club up and running.
If you decide to start a book club of your own there are some general rules that need to be kept from the beginning and these are not in order of importance.
Book Club Tips
1. Decide who you want to be at your book club - Whether you want to host a book club for just you and a friend or bring together a large group of people, it’s important to figure out who will come to your book club. Bigger groups can offer a wide variety of ideas and viewpoints, but smaller gatherings can be more intimate and allow you to really get to know your fellow book club members.
There’s no right or wrong answer to this question and it may change over time, but it’s important to consider before you get started because the size of your book club will affect when and where you can meet and may even impact what books you’ll read.
You should also consider how you’ll find members. Will you invite close friends only? Do you want to expand your social circle and welcome anyone who’s interested?
It can be daunting to find people to join your book club, but books really do have a way of connecting people. Try starting with asking just a few friends, don’t despair it will grow from there.
2. Next you need to choose where you are going to meet and how often. We choose to meet every 4 – 6 weeks, this timing is not set in stone and can be longer over the holiday periods, and can be shorter during the winter season, you will find a rhythm that is right for your club. The where has been varied for our book club and is chosen by the host of the month. We had to get creative during covid and had our meetings virtually. We have met in pubs, restaurants, and each other’s houses.
3. Choosing what you want to read – For our book club we leave it to the person who hosts the evening to choose whatever they would like to read. But there are other ways that this can be decided, by a vote or nomination where you decide as a group what to read
4. Take it in turns – We decided right from the start to make the process as easy as possible. We listed the group alphabetically by name and each time we meet the next person on the list chooses the book and hosts the event.
5. Have some clear rules for your book club – here are some of ours that you may like to follow
a. We do ask everyone to read the book that has been chosen- this may seem like a given but you would be surprised how many people are in a book club, attend the meetings but never read the book
b. Be kind and courteous to each other- not everyone will have the same view, but it will make for a good debate and an interesting evening
c. Speak up and share your thoughts – take turns in sharing what you thought about the book, it gives the evening a depth to have such a wide variety of ideas
d. Bring questions – be prepared about the book up for discussion
e. Stay on topic – it can be very easy to move from discussing the book to a more social chat which is fine if that is what you want, but you are there to discuss the book
f. Have fun – these evenings are great fun, with people who all have a similar interest as you – reading books
Let me know how your book club is going, did you follow my guidelines or have you added others. Is there anything you wish you had known before you started. It would be great to here from you.
Love
Alis x
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