¡Gracias por compartir! / Thanks for sharing!

«I have noticed that when you mention Book Club, some people freak out thinking that is something stressful because you are forced to finish a book you may not want to read, and then make some heavy analysis about it. But a Book Club doesn’t have to be that way.»

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A Book Club doesn’t have to be technical, strict or genre specific. The idea of a Book Club is to gather a group of people to share a reading with, and talk about it afterwards. Different opinions from the same reading are very enriching, it opens your mind and you can see things from a different perspective.

I have noticed that when you mention Book Club, some people freak out thinking that is something stressful because you are forced to finish a book you may not want to read, and then make some heavy analysis about it. But a Book Club doesn’t have to be that way.

Of course, there are Book Clubs that are very technical, they follow a specific genre and they are very analytical. My husband, for instance, was a member of a Book Club focused on Business, and they would gather after reading each book to discuss about it and get different perspectives about business development. I think that’s awesome, but it is not for me at all.

Many of us readers love different genres and we read for relaxing purposes. I mean, come on, we have read many technical and heavy books during our studies, and now all we want is to be entertained, not feel like we have homework.

So, based on that, I will give you some tips to create an amazing Book Club that you and our friends will actually enjoy:

Establish the purpose of your Book Club

Why would you like to create a Book Club? In my case, I wanted to have a group of girls I could talk about books with. Girls who love to read, just like me, so we can gather once a month and give our opinion about a reading, no matter if it’s a positive or negative review. Listening to different perspectives of one book is incredibly enriching! Besides, after we talk about the book, we talk about lots of other things and it ends up being a wonderful meeting full of laughter and life stories!

Think about what you are looking for in a Book Club, that will help you find the right members to begin the journey.

Gather a couple of friends to start

You probably know a couple of reading freaks like you, call them and invite them to start a Book Club, they will love the idea! Just make sure they love to read, and they can commit to read one book a month. That is basically all the requirements to join.

Make a list of members

Create a data base with a list of the Club members. Collect their names, e-mail address, cellphone number and birthdate. You will need that to send information in the future. I send a Happy Birthday message to the girls on their day via WhatsApp, all the girls send their good wishes and the birthday girl gets all the good vibes from the Club! It doesn’t matter if you start with 2 members, make the data base anyway, because trust me, the list will grow.

Define how the meetings will take place

You have to define if the meetings will be in person, on-line, or both! In our case we have both, I think it’s better this way, because not everyone can join a meeting every month, sometimes you just can’t make it to the meeting, but you did read the book, and you really want to share your opinion about it; the on-line platform is perfect for that.

We have a private Facebook page. The day of the meeting we also open a forum on Facebook so any member can write a comment about the book. We have some members who live abroad, so they only use Facebook to comment about the book of the month.

Define where will the meetings take place

It is important to choose a place located near everyone, or central to everyone. It could be a different member’s home each month, a Coffee Shop or a Bookstore.

What we do is gather in a Coffee Shop every month, it is located in a Shopping Mall, with enough parking space for everyone. The meeting starts at 6 pm and the place closes at 9 pm, so it’s perfect, we always stay until they kick us out!

Define dates

It is very important to define a specific day of the month, so all members can organize their schedule beforehand. Our club, for instance, gathers the first Thursday of each month.

Define book genres to read

What genres do you and your club pals like to read? With time, the number of members will increase, and some people will not enjoy the genres you love. That’s part of the beauty of a Book Club, everyone likes different things, so the idea is to get out of your comfort zone a bit.

In order to read a bit of everything for everyone, every year we define a genre per month, and every December we send a new list to all the members. This is our list for 2020 (so you can have an idea):

There will be members who will not read a book one month because they hate the genre, others will give it a chance and decline, or finish it because they surprisingly loved it! Don’t feel frustrated about that, it’s totally normal, not everyone will love the readings, including you! At the meeting people will be honest and say “I hated this book, and this is why…”, the fact that you can honestly express yourself is the idea.

Define how to pick a book each month

Once you have defined a genre per month, it is time for the members to vote for the book of the month. It is important to involve everyone to the decision, that increases their motivation to read.

This is what we do: Two days before the end of the month we announce on our WhatsApp chat group that it’s time to pick up a book for the following month, so we ask for suggestions according to the next genre. After we get a list of suggestions, we pick 3 options. We have to make sure that those options are available to purchase in local bookstores and on-line. In Quito, we usually buy our books here.

We post those 3 options with their synopsis on our Facebook page, and members have to click Like on the book they want to read. At the end of the day, after all have voted, the book that has more Likes is the chosen book of the month. Do this before the end of the month, so all members will have the entire following month to read it.

How to conduct the meeting

To be honest, the meeting will conduct itself. When everyone is present, you will start by asking the person next to you: What do you think about the book? She will give her opinion and the others will start interacting with her, agreeing of disagreeing and eventually everyone will talk about the book, with no pressure.

If the conversation takes a turn and people start talking about other topics, I interfere and ask someone else about the book. Once I make sure everyone gave an opinion, I don’t interfere anymore and the talk develops to all kinds of topics. It’s awesome really. At the end of the meeting everyone leaves happy and relaxed. I don’t want the meeting to feel like a test about the book.

One time, a friend showed up, sat down and said “Girls, I didn’t read the book, but I wanted to see you! I have to tell you all the crazy things that happened to me lately!” And that made me very happy. Eventually you will realize that Book Club is not only about reading a book, it’s about sharing your thoughts with a group of people (each one so different from the other), who will not judge you, and will cheer you up, no matter what.

I really hope I helped on your decision to start your own Book Club; you will love the experience!

Other Blog Posts:

Crash Landing on You, Review

The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo, Book Review

The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin, Book Review

Carthage by Joyce Carol Oates, Book Review

¡Gracias por compartir! / Thanks for sharing!