So, in my previous post I mentioned that I started a book club in 2020 that is still going strong. All of the members have really enjoyed it, and I know that some of my readers might be interested in doing something similar. When I mention that I have a book club, many people express an interest in starting or joining one for themselves. A common and very good resolution is to read more, and a book club is one way to get some reading in and exchange ideas with people. It can even be a way to make new friends and deepen existing relationships. So, here's what I did. This is by no means a definitive guide, it's just the story of my little book club. Feel free to take some ideas and adapt them to you and your friend group. There are no rules here, there is no wrong way to do it. The point is to get people reading and interacting, and any way you can do that is welcome.
So, my initial motivation for this was to make sure that I stayed in touch with my college friends who lived nearby. It was getting silly that these people live less than an hour away and I would forget to see them for months at a time. We needed a reason to get together regularly. We, like all good Hilldale students, love to read and exchange ideas, so a book club seemed an appropriate way to facilitate that.
At our first meeting, I asked people to be thinking about books that not everyone will have read, that have a lot of things that can be discussed, and that we would all enjoy reading. We had an initial pre-meeting where we came to a consensus and agreed to meet on a particular day and time with a copy in hand and the first chapter read. Our first book? the Watchmen graphic novel. Remember, there are no rules. If we all want to read a graphic novel, then darn it, we are going to read and discuss a graphic novel.
At first, we met every two weeks. Our meetings were roughly an hour, and we would discuss a couple of chapters at each meeting. Generally the first few minutes were a time to catch up and see how everyone is doing, then we open the book and off we go. If we get sidetracked and go off on a rabbit trail, that is okay. If we get hung up on an idea for the whole time, that is also okay. We would go until we were finished with discussion, come to a consensus on what to read for the next meeting, then all go off back to our lives.
I made a Facebook group chat to remind people of meeting time and what chapters we were discussing. This chat was also a great place to share articles or videos that came up in discussion. It was also the place where people would let the goup kow they couldn't make it or would have to be late.
When the shelter in place went into effect for Dallas county, we switched to using a video chat for our meetings. I highly recommend this because it allowed for two very important aspects of this club that have kept it sustainable. First of all, if someone really doesn't want to leave the house that day or the weather is bad, they can still participate. Second, it allowed us to add people not physically close enough to attend. This was a great way to reconnect with some college friends who had been scattered to the four winds.
During the lockdown, we also started meeting weekly instead of every two weeks. This was mostly because we all had nothing better to do. By the time things started opening up, the habit was just there and we kept doing it every week. This worked for us, but every book club should choose a schedule that they can realistically stick to.
When I say that I started a book club, most people's first question is "What kind of books do you read?" And I never know how to answer it because we don't really have a structure for how we choose our books. It's really just whatever we think that we will have good discussion about and can come to a consensus on what we want to read. This past year, we have mostly chosen sci-fi, but that won't be the case forever. We read what we want to read, and that keeps it from becoming a chore.
A lot of people think that a book club requires you to read a whole book between meetings. My book club reads whatever we think we can manage. Sometimes that's nearly 50 pages, sometimes less than 20. We end each meeting by giving the assignment for next week and make sure someone puts it into the group chat for anyone who is absent. By meeting more frequently and reading smaller increments, we can properly discuss each plot point as it comes up and nothing gets skipped over to save time.
One more thing that I feel has benefited my book club has been the lack of pressure. We have people who go several weeks without a word then come back, and that is okay. If someone didn't have time to read this week, we still want them to attend and at least enjoy the discussion. The world is full of things that make demands, book club is a request. It should be a joy, not a drudgery.
This book club has been a real blessing to me this past year, and I hope it has been a blessing to other members as well. We have had many good discussions and exchanged so many interesting thoughts and ideas, and I can't wait for more. Some meetings have better conversations than others, some flow more easily, some go completely off track. But I never regret going to book club.
Maybe this has inspired you to start a book club, check one out, or just to read more in general. The pursuit of ideas and good interaction is always worth the effort. There are no rules to how you should or shouldn't do a book club, be willing to try different things and find what works for your group. Something you can stick to and enjoy long-term is infinitely better than a grand plan that fizzles out in three meetings.
That's the story of my book club and how my group has kept it going for a whole year. It was a group effort, I definitely could not have done it alone. I'm so grateful for their efforts and putting up with my nonsense.
Hope you read some good books in 2021!
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