IS ANYONE HERE IN A BOOK CLUB/ READING GROUP?

[ForeverReading]

Not shouting just asking.

I recently went to a reading group and came away feeling it wasn't what I expected. Nice friendly people, ,meeting in a cafe round a big table, some people ate and drank.

The main reason is they allow a choice of books each month, which means out of the group not everyone has read the same book.

Equally, the group founder doesn't have any agenda - ie questions- so it becomes a general chit-chat with the people sitting nearest to you. (So it's a bit hit and miss who has read what and how much they want to discuss the book.)

I had imagined everyone would read the same book and there would be a more 'formal' chat where we discussed the book.

Not quite sure if it's my thing, so are some reading groups run differently?

@deathray
I don't think you're in a book club😂 It's just a meet up of pals.

I'm in a book club of 6. We take turns choosing a book, then discuss it and have general chat afterwards. We try to choose something interesting, and after we have all taken a turn and chosen, we do a quick vote to choose the favourite.

I'm also in a book club that meets in the small place where we live. Tbh I can't imagine how it could work if everyone read a different book - I've never heard of this and as a pp said, it just sounds like an evening out - nothing wrong with that, but it's not what I'd recognise as a book club.

Ours is run along the usual lines - the host picks the book, we all read it (or not - attendees sometimes don't finish it) but it's always the same book. Yes, your heart might sink a bit at the choice but equally you might discover something you would never have thought you'd like, or would have actively avoided (eg I was impressed by Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road', not a book I'd have spontaneously picked up).

The host does a short intro explaining why they picked it, then we discuss. Snacks and wine are provided and it's a pleasant social occasion. Another host is nominated for the next one and they get to choose their book, usually emailing round after they've had a good think about what to pick. We've had non-fiction, plays, classics and books in translation. We've been going a good few years - got up to about 20 people at one point, although it's dropped back a bit now.

Eight of us meet in one member (our Monica - aways the hostess!)'s house and we all bring in drinks / nibbles. We call ourselves "WIne and Crime" as our genre is crime, which is a surprisingly broad church. We all read the same book, and one person might give a short presentation on the book / author and then we all chat about it. We send in possible themes as they come to mind, and 2 members of the group select the theme for the next meeting. We all then email in a book to match the theme - and vote for which book we are going to read. next. Sounds complicated but it really isn't. We've also started going to the various crime writing festivals around the country of which there are many! It's evolving all the time and is good fun.

Am resurrecting this.....

I am now thinking of setting up my own book club.

The one I went to has (again) 3 books on this month's list. I read one but I could be the only one who chose it and would end up giving a monologue at the meeting. This is not what I had in mind!

If you belong to a book club, how do you choose the books? How do you account for people's different tastes? I am not highbrow but ( did teach English for decades) I don't want to have to read chick lit or really light novels- not my cup of tea though obviously not suggesting it's all War and Peace level!!!

How do you get round some people choosing stuff that is of no interest at all?

Does the host/ organiser choose all the books for a year? Does everyone choose one and you all go with that?

Also, when do you think is the best time for a book club? Daytime so mums can come before kids are home from school, people who are retired can come, but people who work full time won't be able to. Evenings- some people are back from work too late on weeknights, and other people have families which take up their time.