Setting up a Book Club or Book Group

You may already belong to a book club but, either way, you may fancy setting one up and running it yourself. It is great to chat with others about a book that you have all read. The shared experience can give an extra reason and purpose to reading a book. Also, most would agree that it sometimes leads to picking up and enjoying a book that you might not have previously considered. It's easy to slip into a rut where we are drawn to a particular genre and can be refreshing to try something different.

It's easier if the club is formed from people you already know - friends, perhaps colleagues at work, parents of children who attend the same school as yours, whom you see now and then, or, indeed your near neighbours some of whom you may not know. The last idea works particularly well as is very convenient to arrange meetings with people within walking distance or a short drive away. If your road has a WhatsApp group then that makes life easier!

Firstly you need to make contact with potential members or maybe put up a poster in your local library, whatever works for you to reach out.  I actually popped a note in the letter boxes of everyone in our road to make sure nobody was missed, which invited them and gave my contact details. Once you have enough people to kick start the group, you might want to set up a WhatsApp group and agree on a few things: what time of day would be best - daytime may rule out those working but would suit retired people, for example, so consider the demographics! Then how often - every other month might be doable but depends on how voracious these readers and booklovers are, how busy their lives and whether they already belong to another book club. Attendance is probably better if you fix it for a certain date each month, eg third Wednesday, so it can be slotted into diaries well ahead. 

Once you have your gang you will need to agree on how you select your books up for discussion. One good way is for everyone to put forward a couple of books they would like to recommend which they may or may not have read. This would form your 'Longlist' from which members can vote democratically to whittle the list down to, say, six a year. It is helpful to do this once a year so the books on the shortlist can be bought or borrowed in good time. Or, you could run things more casually and just stumble along from one meeting to the next and take turns to choose the next one! I prefer the first option as you may have gathered! But do whatever floats your boat.

If you decide to take up the challenge, do let me and others know how you get on in the Comments. I would love to hear about it.