My friend and I are looking to start a book club and have a clear vision of what we’d like our club to look like, but I was wondering if others here have tips and advice to share on how to make it successful and sustainable in the long run.
In my mind, a successful club would attract people who are:
1) eager to unpack a book beyond surface-level impressions and like/dislike, and are happy to spend book club meetings exclusively discussing the selected book
2) are more or less committed to attending on a regular basis (every six weeks or so),
3) will finish the dang book,
4) and are open to reading and appreciating genres and styles they wouldn’t normally choose themselves.
We’re looking to encourage stimulating, interesting and challenging discussions. Anybody successfully achieve this? What have your book club experiences been like?
by provi6
21 Comments
For each book, just have one big meeting/discussion after everyone finishes the book. If you “assign” shorter segments of reading and have intermediate discussions (e.g. read chapters 1-10 for next week’s discussion, then chapters 11-20 for the following week’s discussion, etc.), it feels too much like homework assignments and people start dropping out because they feel like they can’t stay on schedule. Give people the flexibility to read on their own time, whether they binge the book in a day or steadily read one chapter a day. Six weeks between books/meetings sounds very reasonable; definitely don’t go below four weeks or above eight weeks.
My book club has been going for 6 years and counting! We meet once a month and take turns hosting. The host gets to choose the book but most people put up a poll and let majority rule.
Most people read the book each month but life happens. There’s usually 1-2 people who don’t read it but come anyway. We always discuss the book of the month but we also catch up with each other too.
I’m part of a book club and we’ve had about 5-6 meet ups so far. There’s a core group of girls that show up and we do something fun each time. We talk about the book for like 15 min then go on to better girl things 🥰
Over 20 years, monthly meeting cadence. We look for books that are “discussable,” and people generally will finish the book prior to the meeting.
My book club has been going for 18 years with a few members leaving and others joining, but mostly the same core group. The hostess brings 4 or 5 books and gives a short synopsis of each and then we vote on a book. It works well because everyone has a chance to being up their favorites, and personally I read I lot of books I would never have chosen for myself.
I started one a few months ago now and it’s been really enjoyable. We meet once a month, and vote on a selection of titles that are nominated by the members. However the idea is that we’ll go through all the nominations eventually. There is not a heavy pressure on finishing the book, as people said already, life happens. But when we do meet we have a good time discussing, exploring ideas, gaining new perspectives on things. So far we haven’t had to use a formal discussion template or questions, but we’ll usually have them in case discussion slows. It’s a great mix of just socializing and sharing stories while also relating them to the book. My only real fear is more people wanting to come, and the club growing bigger than comfortable, because now with 5/6 people it seems like the perfect size for everyone to have a turn speaking, no one interrupting or hogging discussion, etc.
I’ve been in a few books clubs. The best ones always involve discussing the book part of the time, then more general chit chat or catching up.
I think finding people who can commit to usually attending and prioritize attending when they can is the biggest thing.
One thing you could do is write down discussion questions on note cards. Give everyone a question to read out, everyone takes turns reading their question, they can give their answer and then the rest can chime in with their thoughts. It definitely helps with the discussion part because everyone has different thoughts and may have insights on specific characters/storylines.
Thoughts on your thoughts:
First of all, toss your definition of a successful club. A successful club will become successful organically. If you have too many restrictions it might not grow into what you want it to be because it’s meant to be something else. If you get too hung up on this image either you will be disappointed or the club will fail.
And more about your individual thoughts:
1. Don’t limit the discussion. Sometimes books my club reads we can talk about for hours. Some books, even enjoyable books, don’t generate much to talk about, which would lead to very short and boring meetings. Let the meetings flow. We start with the book and then move naturally into other things – other books we’ve read, books we want to read, other media like movies, local events, our family and kids (we were an offshoot of a FB mom group so most are married and have kids around the same age). Because of the variety of conversation the members of my club have all become good friends. Limited the discussion would stifle these relationships. Now book club isn’t just about the book, it’s a chance for us all the see each other.
2. Six weeks is good but a steadier date might be easier for scheduling (ex: the fourth Monday of the month, the first Wednesday of the month).
3. Don’t pressure people to finish the book. That is our group’s number one rule – you do not have to finish the book. Our last book, only about half the people finished it. Why? Because they didn’t like the book. Yet we had more conversation about this book, largely because of the people that didn’t finish the book could talk about what they didn’t like, what they found difficult about the book, etc. than the previous book which everyone finished and generally rated favorably. If we only allowed people that finished the book to come we would have had a very short meeting and would have lacked the view points of people that didn’t like the book. All points were very valid. I finished and liked the book but took issue with the style of the book just like many of the people that DNF.
4. Excellent point, but again you need to be open to people that haven’t finished the book. We had another book earlier this year that many didn’t finish. Part of it was the book was non-fiction, and our readers tend to prefer fiction. Many tried it, not all finished, and in some cases it was because they don’t often read nonfiction and had trouble getting into it, which they admit.
Good luck with your club.
I started a book club with my girlfriends back in February. I’ve typically been the one to suggest books, but welcome any suggestions from my friends( I’m the one who reads more than anyone else, so they kinda default to me). I try to find discussion questions we go through or we just generally discuss our thoughts on the book. We also try to plan something to go along with our book. This past month, we read “Divine secrets of the yaya sisterhood,” and we all bought ingredients for jambalaya and discussed our book while cooking. After dinner was done, we all watched the movie together. Some months, we just discuss and then catch up over drinks. So, while I prefer something more structured, it has ended up being more fluid and more enjoyable for everyone.
My book club is very small (there’s like 3 of us) but we pick a book together, then read it until we’re all finished. Since we’re a more intimate group, we don’t put a due date on it and it works for us. After we are all done, we go to a restaurant and discuss the book over dinner. I usually lead the discussion and have a print out of “discussion points” so we can talk about it in pieces and really have some thought-provoking conversations about our opinions.
It seems to me like remembering the book club was happening, not to make conflicting plans, and that I needed to read the book would be the hard part. If something is every week or every other week, I can remember it easily. If it’s longer than that, I do better if it’s monthly or every other month (something like the first Saturday of the month) rather than every six weeks.
I’d have everyone come with a few jotted down questions, criticisms, or provocative fan theories about the book to make sure there was plenty to talk about. I’d also have people bring a list of 2-3 possible future reads each so we could pick the next book at the meeting.
And I’d have a reminder email auto-send both one week and one day before each meeting reminding people to read the book and that the meeting was happening.
As to what else could make it successful, I think food is good for conversation. At my favorite book club, we ordered what we mistakenly thought was a Hawaiian pizza (ham and banana peppers instead of ham and pineapple) the first time and ordered the same thing every time thereafter.
My book club was struggling with stop-and-go conversation flow sometimes when the discussion leader would ask a series of complex, involved questions. There would be extended lulls while everyone gathered their thoughts. To address this we recently started asking each member to submit ~3 questions to the group a few days before we plan to meet up so everyone has a chance to sink their teeth into their responses. It’s really allowed us to have deeper discussions about the books and our conversations flow more smoothly since starting this.
One thing a book club I’m in does is sometimes pick an author or a theme/trope to read that month, which can lead to a more wide-ranging discussion and give a little flexibility to pick what works for them. We don’t do this every month, just every so often.
It’s important to find people who are willing to listen AND talk. Some book clubs end up as platforms for the talkative ones to propound their theories of whatever, and the others just sit and listen. And the talkative ones are just competing to speak.
There’s nothing wrong with some people being a bit quieter by nature, and wanting to listen more, but when it crosses over into people getting silenced, they’ll inevitably drop out.
I started a book club with two other people.
We choose the book.
I read the book.
Neither of them did.
Worst book club ever.
Meet only once a month/after finishing the book. I will never understand book clubs that meet mid-book. First of all, I don’t want it to feel like homework and be forced to stop reading at a random point. Second of all, what kind of meaningful discussion could actually take place?
Don’t be afraid to be selective about who you ask to join. It won’t work if not everyone is actually committed to thoughtful discussion.
Have a clear host / discussion leader(s), which it sounds like you and your friend would be. Have discussion questions prepared. Have a pretty regular format for how your meetings go. At mine (I’m not the host), we get our small talk out of the way while we wait for everyone to arrive. Then we almost always start with an icebreaker of what else we’ve been reading lately. Then our hostess launches into discussion, and it’s always a great one.
Lastly, one thing that really works for our group is that our hostess picks 2 books on a theme for us to vote on (occasionally she’ll pick 1 unilaterally if she’s really excited about it). We all trust her and it makes things super easy! I feel like it’d be chaos if we rotated who chooses the books.
That’s what’s worked for us! 🙂 Wishing you success!
I’ve been in multiple book clubs over the years and my current one has been my favorite. There are currently 5 of us (we started with 6) and we’ve been meeting now for over 3 years. Here’s some of our “unofficial” rules:
1. We all take turns picking a book. We just go in alphabetical order by our first name and the person whose turn it is to pick usually comes with a couple suggestions. This way if someone has already read the first suggestion, they have another pick at the ready. We like doing it this way because then everyone has an opportunity to select a book. We all agreed that we’ll be open to ANY type of book.
2. We all agreed that we’ll only suggest books that are at least a year old. We want the book to be available at a library; we don’t want anyone to feel pressure to have to buy a book if they can’t afford it.
3. Any book over 650 pages will need to be OK’d by the whole group. We all love reading but we’re all also really busy, so we want to make sure people have time to read other books between meetings as well.
4. We meet every 4-6 weeks, depending on calendars. We typically meet at a member’s house or at a park outside during the summer months. We just kind of go with the flow on where we meet.
5. If someone doesn’t finish a book, we’re OK with that. It’s rare when someone doesn’t finish but we recognize people are busy and we want everyone to know they can come even if they don’t finish a book.
6. Finally, we don’t meet during the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays. We have our last meeting mid-November and don’t meet again until January. When we meet up in January we all just talk about the books we read in November and December and then the next person up selects our next book.
I’ve been part of book clubs that have naturally just fell apart. This one is still going strong after more than 3 years because we all like each other, we kept it small, and we spend time talking about the books but we also spend time talking about our lives. We’ve found a good balance.
Don’t start off hoping to be a “success.” Start off by finding friends who like to read and hang out. Don’t put too much pressure or rules on it; book clubs should be fun! Also be open to having people join. The more people the better the conversations. Also don’t be upset or surprised if you don’t spend the whole time talking about the book. Just let your book club be fun and organic
My book club has been going strong for 10 years.
We meet at a food hall every month. That way no one has to host and we have a lot of variety in what we eat without it getting stale or dealing with sit down restaurant checks.
We pick our books once a year. We all bring a selection of titles and discuss why we thought they would be a good pick and then we round-robin picking until everyone has picked at least 3. That way no one feels like they never get a book they want to read and people have plenty of time to get on library wait lists or read ahead if they know they need extra time.
Oh and everyone has the power to veto a book, but that’s never actually been used. We had some honest discussions about what would cause us to refuse a book and people have been mindful when picking titles. For example, no one in our group would pick a book that includes child molestation as a plot device because we know it would be too upsetting to one member.
Only discussing the books would get boring. The conversation just naturally flows once everyone is settled and sometimes we go off on tangents and that’s fine.
Don’t be demanding, and don’t make finishing the book conditional. You will never get the club off the ground if you do. There are lots of reasons why people don’t finish: personal stuff happened, work, got sick, family drama and didn’t like the book to name a few.
Honestly, I wouldn’t enjoy the club you’ve described above, it’s too much like school and theere’s no enjoyment in that.