Recommendations for Starting and Running a Book Club

1.Have a vision for what you want your book club to be, and set goals. That is, before you get started, decide what kind of group you want, and what  your focus will be.

2 .Set a time and a place to have your book club meet, and stick to it. Choose a place conducive to discussions. Decide on how large you want your group to be.  Also, decide on whether or not you will serve snacks, and when, and how they will be provided for in terms of cost.

3. Emphasize to potential members that they must be committed to reading the books, and to discussing them!

4. Decide on what types of books your club members will read. I recommend variety as the key to running a successful book group. Also, consider whether you will make up a syllabus for the entire year in advance, or whether you will do it month-by-month. In either case, it is sometimes fun to consider holiday or seasonal themes, and to be flexible enough in case some hot new book hits the bestseller list and is appropriate for your group to read.

5. Decide on how you would like your group members to purchase their books each month, whether you would like a local bookstore to order your books for the group every month (which most book stores would be happy to do!), or whether you would like each individual member to be responsible for getting her own copy (and ordering over the internet might be the best way in this case if you do not have a good bookstore in your area), or whether your church would like to make the books available (and again, ordering from the CBD catalog or over the internet would work best).

6. Decide on how you will organize your group leadership. As with any group dynamics, it will always run more smoothly when someone is in charge. It might be one person all the time, or one individual for a year, or you may decide to take turns, letting a different person lead each month. However, if every member commits to participating equally and freely, the group will probably run more smothly. A discussion facilitatorshould be responsible for overseeing the discussions, and may be responsible for writing questions for the group. However, you may ask everyone to participate in writing one or two questions each time. Finally, the leader should make sure that the meetings begin and end on time. 

7. Decide on what you will talk about during your book club meetings*. Some poeple may want the discussions to stay on the light side, others may prefer things to be more academic, and still others may prefer a more emotionally intense discussion, or some may prefer a combination of passion and intellect.  I personally recommend staying on a discussion of the book itself, and not straying. Sometimes people will want to discuss their own lives' experiences. Limit these discussions, and return to the book as quickly as possible (unless that is what your group prefers!) Also, let everyone have a chance to talk. Try not to let one or two people control the whole discussion. Encourage members to listen to each other and to not interrupt.

* The following are some recommendations: characters and storyline, characters' actions, points of conflict, social/religious implications, symbolism, author's intentions, reader's emotional response, resolution, credibility, work's similarity to other readings, narrative style and technique, theme, point of view,  setting, and personal reference