Tips on starting your own Book Club

1. Group Size and Time:

Ideally the group should be between 8-12 people. Don’t get discouraged if some members come and go, as members need to find their feet. Meetings should be held for roughly an hour at a time on the same date each month; this is generally agreed as a group. Usually a good book club will be recommended by word of mouth however you can also advertise in work, your local library, through friends etc…

2. Venue:

You need to decide if you are going to have it in the same place i.e. the same person’s house but have a different host each time. Or for example you could have it in an outside venue such as a different restaurant each month or book a room in your local library.

3. Choosing a title:

You will need to decide as a group what kind of books you would like to read either fiction or non-fiction. As something different you could chose a cookery book and prepare a meal on one meeting night with each member bringing a different ingredient. You could also choose from your local libraries’ book club list and get them to supply the book.

4. Hosting the book club.

- You can have a look at discussion questions on certain books on the internet or prepare 8-10 questions yourself.

- Avoid asking general questions about the book like ‘What did you think about the book?’, also avoid questions which have yes and no answers.

- I recommend highlighting important page numbers and making a note about them as your reading.

- When you lead with the questions don’t be the first to answer. Give people a chance to think about the question and answer.

- Occasionally direct the question towards a quite member but don’t put them on the spot. It’s okay to have a general chit chat but as the host it is your job to veer the conversation back to the book.

- And finally a good way of wrapping up the meeting is to ask each member to summarise how they feel about the book.

5. Most of all….

Many book clubs are a social outlet or a way of meeting new people with the same interest. For something different once or twice a year you could read a book that has been made into a film. The following meeting you could organise a trip to the cinema to see the film so your members can compare both versions. However the most important thing is for every member to have an enjoyable time, taking something away with them each time and to have some FUN!