Anyone in a book group - can you advise me to get one started please?

[wendyhappysmile]

Hello all
I'd like to get a book group started but having never been to one am not sure of how they work, exactly! Would anyone like to let me know
a) is it worth it? do you enjoy it?
b) what compnonents make it successful?
c) how do I start? i.e. how many to invite, good first books etc

Thanks, would appreciate all your insights!

In our group we didnt really have an 'initial' meeting i.e. to establish rules etc. Instead, the rules were gradually agreed on through email, meetings & through our FB group which has helped too.

For us (differently to others who've contributed to this thread) it was kind of obvious that we all needed to not have read the book. Interesting to see there are completely different ways to do it

In my book group there are about 8 of us, with 6 or 7 usually coming. We rotate round houses, and provide varying degrees of nibbles and alcohol. We meet on the first Wed of the month regardless.

We choose books in a slighly different way - we used to take turns to pick, but in theory, she who shouted loudest usually got to pick! Now, we all choose 2 books that we'd like to read, and at the start of the year, we put all the titles in a hat.

We pull out two for Jan, then two for Feb etc etc. That way, everyone gets to choose books and having a choice of two means that there's usually one that's OK to read. Some people occasionally read both.

We also have a long list of books that the libray has multiple copies of, and we sometimes choose from it. Our library is great - no overdue fines for reading groups.

Good luck - ours has been going for about five years, and we all love it. We even have a waiting list!

I heart my book club.

It started after an evening in the pub but in fact transmogrifed from that group of friends to exclude those who didn't actually want to read books (their decision to be excluded I add) and include some extras who did - result is a rather eclectic mix of ppl I don't normally socialise with or even see at school gate much so it's always brill.

We all love books and reading, but not the same kind of books. I like that I get to read books I might otherwise never have picked up. Some I have loved, some hated, some so-so, but it's all interesting.

There are a lot of us but a typical night might be about 12 people. Last one was quite small at about 7-8 IIRC.

ATM we are meeting once a month which works well. Everyone doesn't come to every one (just as well) so if you don't fancy a partic book, you skip one. I always go as am desperate for a night out that doesn't involve me in a meeting

YY wine and nibbles vital too. BTW our meetings start at 8.30pm which a lot of people raise their eyebrows at but it works as even 8yos are usually in bed by then.

I always remember admitting, when asked if I'd read the book, that I had read the first chapter on Amazon. Usually that sufficed enough to make general comments as to whether I enjoyed the book!

I loved:
The Island- Victoria Hislop
The Wedding Officer - Antony Capella
The Thirteenth Tale- Diane Setterfield (OMG, it just took me 30 mins to find the title of this book - given it to my cousin and couldn't remember the name!)

I'm surprised at this rule about not allowing books that have been previously read: has no-one ever re-read a book and found it (or, rather, your reaction to it) different second time round?

Another problem with our Library book group was that we got standard loans i.e. the books were issued for three weeks but the meetings were monthly. We moaned like mad at the illogicality of it but to no avail.

PS don't do Kevin - it's an awful book (it's a potentially great theme, but it's not done in a credible way).

whenever it was my turn to host, I chose a book I had already read so that I had four weeks off! Quite a few busy mums did that! Our bc was really an excuse to get together and drink wine, rather than go too deeply into the reviewing!

Nobid, I don't think Kevin is an awful book at all actually! Very surprised to hear you think it is. (See that's how book group discussions start...).

Fifth child is a very interesting book, I agree...

I spent all the time thinking "but surely ..." or "if that happened, then you would ...".

The book is all about problems with personalities and relationships. She's a millionaire living in America and it never occurs to her to get therapy!? Not credible.

Didn't see that at first about not rereading books.

That wouldn't work for us at all (apart from anything else there are so many of us).

We have done classics like Jane Eyre and Great Gatsby which several of us have read - but sometimes years ago and gone back to with fresh eyes.

Also a lot of people have picked a fave for the rest to experience - eg Turn of the Screw, Yellow Wallpaper, Riddley Walker

We find in our group that it is a good idea to plan ahead and have worked out the next three books for the next three meetings. Otherwise it is too much of a scramble to have found the next book and read it by the time of the next meeting. It also means that anyone who misses a meeting will already know what book to get on with for the next time.

Really interesting to see how many different ways there are of running book clubs. We set ours up a couple of years ago, it came about after a discussion at a toddler group mums' night out! For our very first meeting we all got together and talked about books we liked, books we wanted to read etc. We then made a big list and selected our books from that. We do that every year now - the last meeting before the summer hol we all talk about what we'd like to read and make a big list. Then we email list round and everyone picks two from the list, it generally works out. We always try and do at least one 'classic' each year. We also avoid 'chick' books as, although there are a couple of people in our group who read them quite a lot, you can't really get much of a discussion going!

We have a fab local librarian and we basically give her the list of what we've chosen (about 14 or 15 books) and she then lets us know what she can get for us and when and thus our reading list is decided! We've never had to buy any books yet, it works out really well, although as someone else said, it means you don't necessarily get to read anything published in the last year or so. The more well-read of us have normally read some of them but never a problem to re-read!

We meet at each others' houses on first Thursday of each month and hostess (we're all mums, poor old dads ...) provides drinks and nibbles. There are about 10 of us although usually don't manage to get more than about 8. And if you do make your group up of mums, you will need to keep hauling the conversation back to the book as we do tend to stray off topic a fair deal. Plenty of time for chatting as well though. Go for it, I love my book group, they've become a really good group of friends.