Book club any Ideas?

[Pads]

Our local mobile library suggested the other day that he would get us copies of the same book if we fancied starting a book club. I really liked this Idea and have so far found 4 other people who would like to give it a try as well. I have offered to have the first one at my house and then we could take it in turns. I have never been to one before so I was hoping for some Ideas Please [:)]

I guess we get the book, How long do you give people to read it ? Should we then meet once a month ? At the meeting has any one got any good opening questions / statements that will get people going ?

Is there any thing else I should be doing [8-)]

I was thinking depending on what time we meet, making tea/ coffee/ wine  and nibbles is this a good Idea or will it just distract us .

Has any one ever started one? 

Many thanks    

[LisaJ]

Yes, we have been running for a year now. We meet one morning every month and the host member provides coffee and biscuits. We started off trying to discuss one book, but found that it was difficult / expensive for everyone to read the same book. Now we choose a monthly theme (biography, diaires, First World War, thrillers etc) and talk for about 5-10 minutes about our book. We decide on the theme two meetings in advance. After the meeting we make a list of the books we have read and circulate it by email. We have found that there are always a few people missing from each meeting so we have been having a bit of a recruitment drive; I think about 12-15 members would be ideal, then you might get 10 at each meeting. There is quite a lot of useful stuff on the web about starting a book club.

Hope this helps.

Lisa

[Pads]

Thanks for that LisaJ . One small worry .......Do you make people talk in turn ! I was kind of hoping it would be a open discussion as I think the few ladies I have already, may feel a little pressured if they had to talk rather than chipping in as and when. Im a little like that myself happy to talk but hate that feeling of the focus being on me if you know what I mean [8-)]

I was hoping to open the talk with a profound , thought provoking question and let the conversation grow.  Looking for some Ideas there !!

We are lucky that the library are going to give us a list of multible books they have as they are trying to promote the Idea , so we have left it up to the mobile man to choose our first one for us and we will pick our next one from the list . 

I will check the web as you suggested and see whats there   

[LisaJ]

I think I thought it would be a free discussion, but we have ended up with people speaking individually (partly because we all have a different book), then others chip in with questions. People are sometimes quite reluctant to speak and you need to be ready to scaffold the discussion, especially at first. I think I was very used to chairing discussions with groups of teachers, who always have plenty to say, so I was quite surprised by the first few meetings, but it is all much more relaxed and chatty now.

regards

Lisa

[Normandie]

So far our favourite at book club has been:  The Kite Runner (with 'We need to talk about Kevin' 2nd).

We meet every 4/5 weeks roughly - 8 of us.

The main thing is that everyone must commit to reading the book - obvious I know, but doesn't always happen! 

I always try to get my copy from the library/charity shop/2nd hand from amazon/fellow book clubber as, unfortunately, some of the reads aren't worth the £7.99!!! charged for a new paperback.

Works quite well if you have a rota so that people know when it's going to be their turn to host it and review the book they chose with everyone and then the next date can be set at the end of the meeting and the next book - out of a choice of three (if poss) voted for. 

Definitely need some wine and crisps!

Good luck!

 

Normandie

 

 

 

[junebaby]

A group of us (mums from school) used to meet most Friday mornings for coffee and as we were all readers we thought we would start a book club.  As it was my idea, I started to look around on the internet for sites dedicated to book clubs and whilst they were relatively helpful I found it hard to believe that a group of women together would only chat for 15 minutes about daily life and the rest of the time would be spent talking about the book - we were the other way round!!

I started off by hosting at my house and choosing the book (Time Travellers Wife - my all time fave) and on the same day someone else volunteered to have it at their house and got to choose the book and it went on from there.  We bought the books individually but sometimes if you order from Amazon and check the box that says it's for a book club you get a bit of a discount.

We read Catcher in the Rye, Northern Lights, Rebecca, Perfume and some other "off the shelf" books from Tesco which was a nice change.  We did try to talk about the book as much as possible and some of them got more of a reaction than others but I would say it was more of a chance to get together for coffee and biscuits than anything else - very lighthearted.

There were 7/8 of us at any one time and I think that's enough unless you want to be talking into the wee small hours!

Good luck!

[bill k]

I don't know where you live, we are in Vienne near Civray, but we have a book exchange at our house once a month. It is totally free and all you do is bring your read books with you and swap them with the other people there. We also have a selection of books that are available to swap. This is also a kind of club so you also meet new people. Another advantage is that you are not commited to go every time.

best of luck

[Pads]

Well its a couple of months down the line since I started this thread and we have for the last month been reading The no 1 ladies dectective agency, and this tuesday is our first meeting, I have managed to get the group up to 10, I would like to make a bowl of questions conversation starters for any one who cant think of anything to say to take the pressure of any shyness, I have made a few but would love some Ideas of any questions that you may have , if you have read this book. Many thanks [:)]    

[Simon]

I have been in a book club in the UK for some years now, the problem with a lot of clubs is that sometimes the chosen book is a little thin when it comes to the discussion, so it helps if you incorporate some other activity to help keep the interest up.  We have a music links and classics round at the end of the evening to give the chaps a fuller experience, we have been going almost 15 years so it seems to work.  The book discussion usually lasts 1-2 hours, and then we have about the same dedicated to the music and classics.

We do go around the room in turn starting with the book's nominator and we each get a relatively uninterrupted turn at saying what we thought, once that is over we then have a free for all discussion that can go on for quite a while.  I think that this works well as in every group you have the loud and the shy, and if you only have a free discussion it can get dominated by 1 or 2 individuals.

Anyone interested might like to see here.

Regards

Simon

[LisaJ]

It is quite easy to find questions for the more popular "book club" books on the internet. I think it is important to start with more factual questions and lead up to a discussion of whether people liked or disliked the book.

regards

L

[Russethouse]

 The no 1 ladies dectective agency, I have just been given 10 of these books - are they any good ?

Simon, I agree with those on your list that liked Birdsong - excellent....

 

[Belle]

Our book club is slightly different, it's held every three months, always at the same house, we don't discuss books, it's on an exchange system, you can take as many books as you like, and can take home as many as you like, the only rule is, that if no-one takes any of your books, then you take them home again, we all chat to each-other, sometimes meeting people that you havn't met before, cups of tea and bicuits, which some take along as a help out, then when you want to leave, it's goodbye for another three months.