I recently started a book club with some of my dearest internet and IRL friends and we just made it through our first meeting. So it has had me thinking a lot about what makes book clubs work and what makes them not. For the record, I love book clubs! But my experiences with book clubs have not always been the best. And I think I've figured out a couple of the reasons why.
So some background. I have been trying in vain the last few years to find a book club like the one I used to attend while I lived in Baltimore for grad school. It was seriously the best! We had a good mix of both men, women, and nonbinary folks so the discussions were amazing! We had such a diverse crowd each month that we touched on and discussed things about each book I never would have thought about on my own. It made me look at some of my favorite tropes in a new light. I always came back from book club feeling invigorated and ready to read ALL THE THINGS! And most of that was because of the people that I was so privileged to interact with each month. In my opinion, I think the people are the make all or break all of a book club. If you don't like the people you're trying to discuss a book with, you're probably not going to last long in that book club. But when the group is right, it makes everything so much more.
The next thing that will make or break a book club for me is the book selection. One of my biggest complaints about all the book clubs I've tried since then has almost always been about the book selection. I have nothing against nonfiction books, memoirs, and literary fiction personally and I'll read them on my own every once in a while. But I hate how a lot of book clubs revolve around these genres and only these genres. What made me love my Baltimore book club so much was that they made sure to have a diverse reading list and they actively tried to pick books and genres that appealed to everyone. We read sci-fi books and romances and epic fantasies along with a couple literary fiction books and things easily switched back and forth between adult and YA. It was amazing! I never felt bored with the reading and switching genres every month kept my inner mood reader at bay.
I've been trying to emulate that with this book club but it's hard when we have a group that differs so much in reading tastes. The solution we found was a simple one. We've assigned a month out to each individual to pick that month's book to read. And we now have a gloriously diverse reading list! There's a little sci-fi, some romance, and fantasy picks so far and I'm intrigued to see what else comes our way this year.
We're doing our discussions online via a video chat which is great because it makes it super easy to meet together. I never would have expected book clubs to go virtual but I'm thankful that it is a thing the internet has brought into our lives. Sometimes it was hard to get to the library or book store the book club was being held at it. Being able to do book club from my couch is awesome. So what about you?
Do you book club?
What is your favorite thing about it?
Or what makes you never want to go to book club again?
We’re participating in the 2019 Discussion Challenge hosted by It Starts at Midnight and Feed Your Fiction Addiction. Check out all the February discussions!
So some background. I have been trying in vain the last few years to find a book club like the one I used to attend while I lived in Baltimore for grad school. It was seriously the best! We had a good mix of both men, women, and nonbinary folks so the discussions were amazing! We had such a diverse crowd each month that we touched on and discussed things about each book I never would have thought about on my own. It made me look at some of my favorite tropes in a new light. I always came back from book club feeling invigorated and ready to read ALL THE THINGS! And most of that was because of the people that I was so privileged to interact with each month. In my opinion, I think the people are the make all or break all of a book club. If you don't like the people you're trying to discuss a book with, you're probably not going to last long in that book club. But when the group is right, it makes everything so much more.
The next thing that will make or break a book club for me is the book selection. One of my biggest complaints about all the book clubs I've tried since then has almost always been about the book selection. I have nothing against nonfiction books, memoirs, and literary fiction personally and I'll read them on my own every once in a while. But I hate how a lot of book clubs revolve around these genres and only these genres. What made me love my Baltimore book club so much was that they made sure to have a diverse reading list and they actively tried to pick books and genres that appealed to everyone. We read sci-fi books and romances and epic fantasies along with a couple literary fiction books and things easily switched back and forth between adult and YA. It was amazing! I never felt bored with the reading and switching genres every month kept my inner mood reader at bay.
I've been trying to emulate that with this book club but it's hard when we have a group that differs so much in reading tastes. The solution we found was a simple one. We've assigned a month out to each individual to pick that month's book to read. And we now have a gloriously diverse reading list! There's a little sci-fi, some romance, and fantasy picks so far and I'm intrigued to see what else comes our way this year.
We're doing our discussions online via a video chat which is great because it makes it super easy to meet together. I never would have expected book clubs to go virtual but I'm thankful that it is a thing the internet has brought into our lives. Sometimes it was hard to get to the library or book store the book club was being held at it. Being able to do book club from my couch is awesome. So what about you?
Do you book club?
What is your favorite thing about it?
Or what makes you never want to go to book club again?
We’re participating in the 2019 Discussion Challenge hosted by It Starts at Midnight and Feed Your Fiction Addiction. Check out all the February discussions!
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