I’m an avid fantasy/romance reader and have a ton of friends who I’ve met and shared books with.
We’ve all mostly read all 15 SJM books and that kind of started our reading obsession. I have a few more friends that have just started reading her books or are interested in reading them. Me and a friend decided to start a book club and while doing research on how to start, I have so many questions!
We all know we’re gonna want to talk about these books but how with new members who haven’t read them? My first question is, how do you host a book club about a book that most of the members have already read? Or is this something we should just avoid?
My second question is, how often is too often? A lot of us want to meet once a week but when I do the research everyone suggests once a month or even bi-monthly. My main concern is that if we are actively reading a book, how do you ensure everyone is caught up to the same chapter? I guess that’s why you meet once a month, right? So that everyone can finish the book before the next meeting.
If anyone has suggestions or has run a club before I highly appreciate the tips!
by Miasbookclub26
7 Comments
I suggest meeting once a month. At the June mtg. (we don’t meet July and August) everyone submits a book title for the next book club “year” that goes from Sept. to June. We have 10 members. We don’t worry if someone has already read the book. One of the benefits of a book club is to read genres that you might not pick up. So I wouldn’t restrict the genre/type of book – it defeats the purpose of a book club. At the meeting the person who picked the book tells why and maybe talks about the author. Then we go around the circle and everyone who wants to talks about the book for a short time UNINTERRUPTED. This gives everyone a chance to speak without someone hogging the discussion. After that it’s open season and a free for all. Meetings are rotated between members houses. Occasionally we will go out for dinner or have a potluck. Otherwise the hostess supplies drinks (alcoholic & nonalcoholic as well as snacks usually sweet and savoury). Let me know if you have any questions.
Have a schedule of a book to discuss each month. Some books can be a book some members have already read, but everyone should have a month to read the next book. In our club each member has a chance to pick a book in rotation, and the choosing person must choose a book they have already read (and thus can vouch for to some extent.)
Schedule a book & discuss that book. I have one book club that’s every other week, another couple are once a month (yes, I sometimes go to 3 different ones).
If people don’t finish the book before the discussion then they’re going to get spoilers. Some people will come without finishing the book for whatever reason because they want to hear what others thought.
We normally meet at the library now (you can reserve meeting rooms).
If you just want to start off with SJM for now then the ones who have already read it are just gonna have to go at the same pace as those that are just starting. So for each week say no spoilers past chapter X.
If most of you want to meet every week then do that. You can always change it later on if you find it’s too much.
Books are usually chosen for specific meetings. People read the entire book and then discuss. It’d be difficult to time reading parts of a book. I’d not want to stop reading a book because I’ve read to that chapter. Otherwise, people might need to avoid spoilers.
There are jokes in movies about entire groups not reading a book, so obviously these meetings are to a large extent social. The groups I’ve been to, most of the people read all the books. Occasionally someone is too busy. One book, I stopped at the first page because of too many overplayed tropes. I still went to the meeting. Obviously, it’s not a big deal if someone doesn’t read it.
Sometimes books are chosen in advance.
There are different methods of choosing books. One group everyone chose books from a hat. Another was headed by a librarian and she chose the books, but took suggestions. My current group has two heads. Sometimes they choose, sometimes it’s done by voting.
Voting can lead to books of certain types being read a lot.
People pulling votes of a hat would mean more random. Random, unusual. Random, crap.
1. You don’t need a book club to talk to friends about books surely.
2. Unless a book is exceptionally difficult eg you’re reading Marx: Capital then book clubs normally aim to meet when the whole book is read, hence monthly. It’s much harder to discuss a part book and the faster readers are likely to either give spoilers or lose interest.
I suggest you nominate a new unread book for a 4-weekly book club and meet in between to discuss anything other than said book.
We are voracious readers who are all in more than one book club- it gets tedious to find something that no one has read. Does it matter – you can still discuss the book.