How to Start a Book Club

A little under a year ago I followed through an idea I’d been nursing for a while, something I wanted to do my whole life: I started a book club. Before I say anything else, I just want to thank my mom and dad for making that dream a reality. I run the book club (well not really. It mostly runs itself) but my parents supply drinks (wine, beer, seltzer, soda), put a tablecloth and flowers on the table and my mom usually tries to provide a healthy snack like fruit salad or watermelon. They also let us use the house once a month. Currently, my book club is bursting at capacity but if you want in on the action maybe you could start your own. Here are some (hopefully helpful) tips to starting your own book club.

1. Decide where you will meet. I have the luxury of using my own house but not everybody has that. You could meet in a library (obviously you will not be able to bring snacks) or in a cafe which probably won’t mind as long as you buy food and drink. You also could take turns hosting which also serves to add variety to meetings.

2. Pick out who you want in your book club. Think of all the bibliophiles you know and the ones that get along best with each other. Put out the call that you’re starting a book club to your friends and see which ones are interested. Some might have friends that are interested too which is good because you might get new and different perspectives. I only asked a few people initially but I encouraged them to recruit other people and now we are up to around ten people.

3. I decided early on in my book club career that no meeting is a meeting without snacks. So the one thing I asked my members to do (besides read the book obviously) is to bring snacks. We have soooo many snacks it is like a banquet every month. And there’s variety from garlic knots to frozen pizza to hummus to chips to cookies and brownies- any treat imaginable. It is like a spread from heaven.

4. Our first meeting was solely to discuss how our club would run (it’s not my club, it’s our club) and pick the first book. We decided we would meet once a month (we have met every month but May which was just too busy but we did two books for June) and read one book a month. We haven’t exactly stuck to this either. Sometimes we do two short books a month (we are currently doing that this month). 

5. The way we select our books is that I take a list of all the suggestions. This list carries over from month to month so once a book is on the list its always on the list. Ideally, the book is one none of us have read before but we’ve broken that “rule” before. I number all the books and then someone will use a randomizer online to pick the number of the book. That will be the book we read. We also try to make sure everyone gets their selection picked before we start going around again. 

6. I don’t know if I would have read any of the books on my own which is great because I loved most of the books I read or at least parts of them. It isn’t unusual for someone to not finish the book but everyone has usually read enough to contribute to our discussions. I didn’t finish American Gods by Neil Gaiman or Brave by Rose McGowan. The first one I just could not get into. The second one upset me. 

7. When I first started book club I asked each member to write via post-it things they would prefer to not see in the book. Some people said child abuse. Alot of people said sexual assault. We violated this several times. Our very first book had rape resulting in pregnancy. Brave obviously had rape and so did Parable of the Talents where women and men were repeatedly raped. 

8. Part of book club is giving books outside your genre or realm of knowledge a chance. My book club is very diverse so obviously I am going to get a range of book suggestions. Currently we are reading a book of essays and a graphic novel. I would never turn down a book because it isn’t “literary” enough. We’ve never turned down a book.

9. Our meetings revolve around discussing the book and then picking the next. People tend to have very fiery attitudes about literature- they either love or hate a book or character or plot point. Here are some questions we usually address at book club meetings:

   
   

   What did you think of _____ (the main character/ the antagonist/ the love interest)

   What was your favorite part of the book? The least favorite?

   Would you read another book by this author?

   Do you agree with the theme of the book?

   How did the book leave you feeling?

   If you were the main character what would you have done in ______ situation?

10. When planning meeting dates that work for everyone it usually easiest to pick a day of the week. Our group usually meets the last Tuesday of every month which makes it easier for the members to plan around it. 

Now that you have some guidelines it should be easy to start a book club of your own!