Book Clubs Tips & Ideas
Reading a book is just the beginning. Talking about it is the very best part. With or without wine. Although after assessing the overabundance use of "wine/booze" in the names of clubs, maybe the wine is just as good as the discussion.
WHY JOIN A BOOK CLUB?
1. Meet New People. When I joined my local book club over twenty years ago, I was a young mom searching for ways to connect with other women in my town. While some like me are core members from day one, others have come and gone. Over the years, we’ve supported each other through life’s milestones. We’ve become close friends, developed through a shared love of reading. More recently, I’ve joined online book clubs to chat over Zoom with readers across the U.S. and Canada.
2. Broaden Your Interests And Perspectives. I love Historical Fiction. Yet, through our process of the monthly host picking our titles, I’ve expanded my depth and breadth in reading YA, Non-Fiction, LGBQT, Biographies, Cultural Fiction, and more. At each meeting, we bring our experiences and opinions to shape and share thoughtful discussions. And, while most of us are in the same general age bracket, I enjoy the perspectives which emerge from our group which has a twenty-year age span of generations.
3. Eat and Drink. “Book Club Without Cheese Is Just English Class” – source unknown. While a book discussion steers our evening meetings, great food and drink, alcoholic and non, enhances our gatherings. We try new appetizers and desserts and swap recipes. Nibbling on a vegan olive tapenade while sipping on a Peruvian wine choice breaks the ice to launch lively discussions.
4. Administer Self-Care. Joining a book club became my single, monthly effort in self-care. I carved out time from working full-time with two active boys in sports to read at least one book a month and attend one meeting. Just me, a good book, and a cherished group of friends for three hours a month.
5. Up the Ante with a Slice of Fun. From costumed meetings in October to movie-adaption nights to themed food and drink, there are many ways to bring a book to life found on Pinterest and recipes in The Book Club Cookbook.
6. Get Creative. Even naming your group is a creative exercise. Take a look at some of these great ideas posted to The Girlfriend Book Club FB group:
| Bad Girls Book Club | For the Love of Books | The Saggies** |
| Between the Sheets | Giggle Buddies | Shelf Worn Sisters |
| Beyond the Book | Happy Bookers | Sip and Flip |
| Black Pearls Keeping it Real | Highland Bookworms | Sisters Book Club |
| Book Babes /Book Club Babes /Babes, Books and Booze* | I'm All Booked | Sisters Sippin' Tea |
| Book Bags | Just One More Page | That's What We Read |
| Book Buzz | Lit Wits | The Covers |
| Book Ends* | No Name | The Tomes |
| Book was Better | Not So Much a Book Club | Top Shelf |
| Bookies with Class | Novel Bunch /Idea* | Washashores |
| Books and Brunch | Open Minds | Well Red Book Club* |
| Books, Bites & Booze / Books & Booze* | Page Turners | Wildflowers |
| Bookworms Anonymous | Pain Reliever Book Club | Wine and Words |
| Bottoms Up Book Club | Read What You Want | Wine Between the Lines |
| Circle of Friends | Reader's Choice | Wines & Spines |
| Drinking Club with a Reading Problem | Readers Circle | Women of Words (WOW) |
| Fear of Commitment Book Club - short stories only | Reading Between the Wines / Vines* | Women, Wine & Words |
* Multiple mentions with Reading Between the Wines/Vines by far the most popular
** Personally, I think "The Saggies" is the most creative - named "because a certain body part is starting to sag". LOL!!!
TOP TITLES TO CONSIDER
Looking for a choice to stimulate great discussions for your club? I’ve fielded a poll among groups across the U.S. to develop a listing of Top Books for a Great Book Club Discussion (updated January 2024).
How does your group select titles? One club I had the pleasure of joining while in FL this year is very organized. They meet every other month, choosing three fiction, one non-fiction, one classic and one book set in FL or written by a FL author. Members submit recommendations in each category, including a “why I picked it” statement. The organizer then compiles all the suggestions, circulates out the long list and they come together to vote. My in-person local group lets the hostess for the meeting month make the selection.
TIPS & IDEAS FOR SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS
THEMED MEETINGS
As you can see from my photos, my book club has a lot of fun pairing food choices with book selections and dressing up in costumes (our October hostess loves Halloween and always chooses great books for us and gets creative).
Pairing food and beverages to the book always add a touch of flair. Tons of ideas can be found in the compilation, The Book Club Cookbook, by Judy Gelman.
From twisting tornados and rainbow fruit salad, to tea sandwiches for a 100th anniversary party to celebrate the 19th Amendment, to grilled salmon and “nine men in a boat”, there’s plenty of ways to get creative with your meetings.
AUTHOR TALKS & DISCUSSION GUIDES
Connecting with readers is important for authors. In-Person, Zoom and Skype are great ways to connect with authors for any meeting. My group has been fortunate to Skype with Lisa See to discuss Island of Sea Women and to meet her in-person (pre-Covid) at an all-town read author appearance. She was amazing and so gracious with her time at each one.
Author Talk – Janis Robinson Daly. Taking a page from Lisa See's success with readers, one of my goals is to meet with as many book clubs, in-person or over Zoom. If your club is interested in reading one of my novels, please fill out my form so I can get in touch with you to schedule. I'd love to meet with you!
Questions for Book Club Discussions. While searching for questions to lead a discussion on Kate Quinn's The Diamond Eye, I discovered a great resource, Book Club Chat. Lots of book title suggestions for clubs as well thoughtful questions, many of them developed by the website creator, Heather Caliendo, a former journalist.
SHARING & CARING
- With roots in a local women’s civic group, at my group’s December meeting we collect items identified as in high-demand for our local food pantry. Giving back to our community which brought us together is a simple gesture of thanks.
- From a Facebook post in a reading group, I love this idea: When a member of their group passed away, they all purchased a copy of one of her favorite books and donated them to their library in her name so that other book clubs could read her favorite book with enough copies on hand for an entire group to borrow.
- From another FB post and another lovely idea: Read a book for a cause and make a donation to a charity that fits with the books theme. A few suggestions include: The Midnight Library = Suicide Prevention, American Dirt = Immigration Relief, Before We Were Yours = Adoption Agencies, The Answer Is = Pancreatic Cancer Research, Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek = Mobile Libraries.
VIRTUAL MEETINGS VIA ZOOM, FACEBOOK, LogMeIn, or SKYPE
Even the cat had a good discussion point!
The Mechanics
- Check the Zoom website first and read through info put in place to tighten security measures since the explosion of usage has also increased questions around privacy, etc.
- Test ahead of time to make sure connections are working.
- Have each person make a list of their top opinions before the meeting and send them to the moderator. Circulate via email ahead of time to think about what you want to discuss
- Limit the time or make sure you’re set up for longer 40 minutes. The free Zoom version gives you 40 minutes. To extend your time, have everyone log off and then log back in with the same link; it generally works. Or, book two back-to-back sessions.
- Choose one person to serve as moderator is key to maintain order and make sure everyone gets a chance to speak. A round-robin approach works to make sure everyone who wants to speak gets the opportunity. Have the host pull up the discussion questions on her screen so everyone can see those at the same time.
- Log in a few minutes early.
- Have all attendees mute themselves except for the moderator and raise their hand to comment or pose a question…they have to be recognized by the moderator before un-muting themselves.
- Computers work better than phones.
- Activate the grid view so you can see everyone at once.
- The best audio is if no one in the group uses earbuds and instead uses the computer’s mic.
Making It Fun
- Have each member read a favorite passage. Dress it up – does the character have a signature item? Wear it.
- Drop off or send a book themed goodie to each member ahead of your call, even if it’s a bookmark.
- Try a phrase or word scavenger hunt – where does it say… First one to answer correctly wins a small prize.
- For a brief moment of levity, encourage all participants to have a spatula handy. When they want to comment, raise the spatula instead of their hand for attention.
THE HISTORY OF BOOK CLUBS
Does this description fit your book club? “A way for women to pursue truth, knowledge and an understanding of themselves and the world around them.” The observation is attributed to Margaret Fuller, the first American female war correspondent, a magazine editor and an all-around feminist renegade, who formed a literary circle of women in 1839. Read more about the evolution and power of book clubs in this March 2021 Washington Post article, “How women invented book clubs, revolutionizing reading and their own lives.”
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