Book Club Questions

[Tinijocaro]

My sister is starting a book club to meet every six weeks. For those who already have a book club that works well, any tips? How do you select the books? Do you serve food- what kind? Alchohol? How often do you meet? Do you rotate houses? Anything else you have to offer would be great. Thanks!

Jackie

 

[Tinijocaro]

Bump for the afternoon crew.

 

[AboutTheMouse]

Here's what we do -

First, we have an organizational meeting during early September and everyone brings book ideas. Some bring books that they have read and some bring lists from the library, Amazon, etc. During this meeting, we choose the books that we will read during the year including one for over the summer (we don't meet July or August). Everyone gets a chance to summarize the books that she wants to present and we all vote on them until we get to 9 - 10.

We get together once a month and rotate to members' homes. We also have a discussion leader for each meeting. All of this is decided during our first meeting of the year. We meet on Friday evenings and ours is typically 30 minutes book discussion and the rest (could be a couple of hours) school and neighborhood gossip.

The hostess provides appetizers and drinks. We stick to water, soda, beer and wine. Sometimes the hostess themes the evening around the book. For our last meeting of the year, we go to a local restaurant for a ladies' night out. That book is typically light and fluffy. The rest are fiction - everything from The Secret Life of Bees to The DaVinci Code.

Have fun! This is a great way to get some time to yourself (reading!) and time out of the house (Book Club night!).

 

[NMAmy]

I used to be part of a book club that I loved until I moved away. We met once a month and rotated between members' homes and the hostess would provide the food. We'd bring book suggestions and vote on them--whoever's book won would be the facilitator for that meeting.

It started as a group of people (instructors, staff, administrators) from the college where I worked. We were encouraged to bring friends and so we had a great mix of people. Members were encouraged to bring their kids along (so they wouldn't have to miss because they couldn't find a sitter) and my dd even facilitated the meeting when we discussed Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone. Believe me, you haven't lived until you've discussed a kid's book with a bunch of English instructors--it was a hoot.

Our rules were very loose--if you didn't like the book, we only asked that you at least read the first 100 pages. We bent that rule, though--for example, one woman who'd had a baby was let off the hook because she was simply dying for a night out.

Book clubs are great fun. I'm thinking about starting a new one here. Enjoy yourselves!

 

[jedi_librarian]

Here's a great resource to help you pick books and find reading guides.

http://www.readinggroupguides.com/

Take advantage of the local library! Many get multiple copies of popular book club selections, so you can borrow them in bulk.

 

[swilphil]

I joined a book club in 1989, way before even Oprah had one. Someone picked a book and we met in 6 to 8 weeks at their house. Then we did the same thing with the next person. We always had some sort of treat, often had alcohol, and kept the discussion very informal. We had men and women in our group, and I highly recommend that. It makes both the discussion and the book choices more interesting.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Thank you to all who responded- there are some good ideas that I will forward to my sister. I'm excited for it to start.

Jackie

 

[Lars624]

We meet once a month............we make out a schedule of who will be in charge of each month in advance......who ever has a certain month chooses the book to be read that month (& announces it at the end of the previous month's meeting) & they also decide where to have the meeting......sometimes it's at a person's home or other times it's at a restaurant of coffee house. We've been doing this since 1999 & I look forward to it every month.