Tired of reading alone? Start a book club!

Starting your own book club can be exhilarating, daunting, or both! Below are some tips to help the process go as smoothly as possible.

Decisions, Decisions

First, decide what kind of book club you want. Is it specific to one group of people (teens, women, over 50s, etc) or open to anyone? Is it specific to a particular type of genre (fiction, romance, mystery, non-fiction, etc) or will you read a bit of everything? Narrowing down the type of reading group you’d like to have will not only make it more fun for you, but will help like-minded people find each other.

Where Art Thou?

Next, decide when, where, and how often you will meet. Maybe you will meet at the community centre, or a coffee shop, or members will take hosting in their homes. Make sure everyone in the group is happy with the time and place.

Secondly, decide how often you will meet. Typically, book clubs meet anywhere from every 2 – 6 weeks. You want to give people enough time to read and digest the book, but not so much time that they don’t remember what happened when book club comes around!

The Rules of Book Club Are …

Being clear about the rules and expectations is always a recipe for success. Some areas the group may want to make decisions about are:

• Who will choose the books? Will it be a group decision or will people take turns?
• Is there a page limit on how long a book can be? A page minimum?
• Is there any subject matter that is off limits? I.e. certain types of violence, explicit sex scenes, etc. Sometimes, these scenes may unexpectedly be in a novel, but as far as you are able to control it, people should be comfortable reading books they’re comfortable digging into (unless being uncomfortable is the point of the book and everyone has agreed to it!) 
• Will anyone be bringing food/drinks? Who and what? Is alcohol allowed or is it a booze-free zone?
• How will the discussions be started? Will someone create a list of questions for each meet? Will everyone bring one question?
• How will the discussion work? Will everyone have a designated turn to speak until the discussion gets going or will it be a free-flowing conversation from the start?

Sorting these types of questions with the group beforehand will ensure everyone has a positive experience and can easily get down to the good stuff: reading and discussing a great book (or a bad book, sometimes those are even more fun to talk about)!