I would like to start a book club - how would I go about it?

[bossykate]

TIA

No Idea!!!! But i would like to sign up. What type of books were you thinking of?

Just invite 7-9 other people to meet at yours 6 weeks from now. Give them the title of the book. Supply loads of wine and snacks.

At bookgroup ask who is willing to host the next one. Choose another book. Choose another date.

ta da!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe talk to your local librarian for help/ideas? Or did you mean an online one?

At ours the person who is hosting the next group brings along two choices to the current group and we vote on which one to read next.
Don't do anything more than 'posh' crisps and nuts as it ends up becoming a domestic goddess competition rather than a natter about books.

hello everyone thanks for these replies

i see i wasn't specific enough.

it's something i would be interested in organising locally. i have 2/3 local friends who might be interested. my query (although it would have been helpful actually to state this of course ) was really around how to find some other local members.

thanks very much for your help.

I started one 2 months ago with the excuse to meet mums outside of kids plus all our DC are starting different primary schools in September. Started of with 3 people and two months later it is 12 already.

Good fun, we meet in a local pub (quiet pub unless we are there)once a month.

hi pickie. thanks for that my idea is also to meet in a local pub to prevent anyone ever having to host ever! but how did you boost the numbers? i was thinking of advertising in the school newsletter... but can see the downsides...

people talk, one friend invites another and they know somebody etc..

I hosted the first one and it became apperant nobody had a big enough house to seat 10 plus women so pub it was!

thanks pickie

so how did you find the first lot? was it your ante-natal group?

were people just allowed to invite their friends willy nilly?

thank you very much

Just mentioned it to a few mothers really.

Yes people are inviting friends willy nilly which I think is great as it is a interesting mix of people! Academics to school drop outs which is great for discussions.

Only thing I'd say is that ideally you dont want more then 6-7 people in a group for discussion otherwise it tends to become too big. We will split the group on the evening itself and rotate if needed

thank you

am off on holiday today so will take it up again when i'm back.

thanks very much for your help

have a good one!

Of course, you could always advertise for book club members on Mumsnet.

That's how I joined my book club, when another MNer suggested one in my area. 3 of us are Mners, a couple more are friends of friends. It's been going well over a year now and it's great.

A couple of people have come and gone but I think there are now 7 regular members, which seems just about the right size.

would agree - word of mouth is good and don't just restrict to Mums - i started one a year ago and a few people i asked were not keen but their DPs were - now got 3 men in group about 7 women - not all can make every meet and we are very informal. Some people prefer to host at home others prefer the pub. Good luck and enjoy