How to Start a Book Group

Millions of people around the world have enjoyed being part of a book group. For those who love to read, many of them also love to talk about the books they read with others. A book group provides an escape from a routine, a chance to get to know other people, talk about a shared experience and hear a wide variety of ideas.

A great way to join a book group is to start a book group. If you know other people who like to read and discuss books, starting your own book group will be a fun and rewarding endeavor.

Identify Group Members

Some book groups are made up of people with common interests and goals. Some have only women as members, or only mothers of small children. While this set up may work splendidly for some, consider asking people with various interests and at various life stages to join the group. Discussions will be much more interesting and there will be a variety of points of view.

Decide if you want the membership opened or closed. Is it ok for members to bring guests from time to time, or will you only allow new members when someone else quits the group? There advantages and disadvantages for each way of handling your group's membership, so decide what works best for you and the group.

Plan a Time and Place

Have a planning meeting and decide on a time and place to meet. While the time should remain constant (i.e. first Thursday of each month at 8pm or second Tuesday of each month at 10am), the place can stay the same or change. Consider having different members host at their homes. If no one is comfortable with this, your local library may have a room, or you could meet at a restaurant or other location. It will work out well if meetings are planned out 6-12 months in advance so all members can plan ahead.

At the planning meeting you can also decide if your group would like to provide snacks for your book discussions. For some book groups, snacks will be a main draw. For others, they will not be necessary.

Another decision that should be made at your initial planning meeting is how to handle book discussions. Do you want to have someone lead each discussion? Do you want to rotate the responsibility or stick with the same person each time? Decide what you will do and plan it out for the next 6-12 months.

Be flexible and realize that changes might need to be made to the schedule if conflicts arise. It might take your group several months to a year to get completely organized and established.

Select Books

Decide if your group wants to read fiction, non-fiction, self-help, or even a specific genre like science fiction or romance. You may have a group that would like to stick with one type of book and another that would like to read and discuss all kinds of books.

There are many ways to choose books to read. One of the most common is to take suggestions from members of the group. Group members may suggest books they'd like to read or books they've already read. Members can vote on the books they want to read or even pull titles out of a hat to maintain fairness.

There are several good web sites that list popular reading group books along with reading and discussion guides. These lists are wonderful resources for finding interesting books to read. You might also want to check the New York Times Bestseller's List to see what is currently popular.

Communicate

Communicating by e-mail is one of the easiest ways to keep in touch with your book group. You can easily send out meeting reminders, the year's book list, meeting locations and discussion leader assignments. However, if not everyone has e-mail, you can pass out the book list and other club information at your meetings. Be sure to add phone numbers and/or e-mail addresses so everyone will be able to contact members of the group if needed.

Even the most organized book group member will appreciate meeting reminders a day or two before your meeting takes place and it's a great way to make sure you have enough people present for a good discussion.

Enjoy your book group. Whether you are spending time with old friends, getting to know new ones, or both, a book group is a rewarding way to spend your time.