WE’VE ALL BEEN IN THAT BOOK GROUP. You know. Where members used to show up to discuss the book, but now come full-to-the-brim with details of their sister’s divorce, or their boss’s bankruptcy, or their kid’s awful new soccer coach. Not that I’m one to throw stones! I love an off-topic discussion as much as (if not more than) the next person.
Still, with the new year on the horizon, this might be the perfect time to get your book group to commit to a resolution or two. Here are some suggestions to get you started.
- O MAGAZINE’S 14 Ways Not to Kill Your Book Club includes, as Strategy Number 12, “Book Club Is Not Group Therapy”—my favorite of the Big 14.
- Kansas City Library has put together The Facilitator’s Handy List of Ground Rules, which includes hints for “Keeping the group on the topic of the book.”
- Then there’s The FRISKY’s article, that starts, “There are book clubs and then there are book clubs.” It delivers 5 Rules for a Book Club That Actually Reads.
Looking for some book suggestions for your club?
- HUFFINGTON POST has a list of 12 Fabulous Titles Everyone Can Agree On.
- Not sure you agree with HUFF POST? BOOK PAGE shares 20 Unexpected Books for Your Reading Group.
And if all this chummy club-talk makes you long for a reading group of your own, you can start—or find—a book club near you. Just visit Reader’s Circle and enter your zip code in their database. Then, voila! Connect with your book-loving cohort and read on!