Book Groups are a fantastic way to meet like-minded people and turn what was once thought to be an exclusively private hobby into a sociable activity. People join them for many different reasons – to make friends, to challenge their minds, to discover new authors, to read books they would never have considered reading before – and sometimes just to have fun! There are thousands of existing Book Groups throughout the country, advertised on the internet, in public places or by word of mouth. If, however, you can’t find a Book Group in your location that suits you, then why not set up your own? Here are a few tips to help you on your way…
Place an advert in as many local public places as possible for an initial meeting to register interest. Good places for meetings are libraries, bookshops, church halls, school classrooms, pubs, cafes – or, once the group has been established, members’ houses. It’s a good idea to ask people to let you know if they are planning to attend in advance, so that you have a rough idea of how many to cater for. Somewhere between 6 and 12 members would be ideal, bearing in mind that you’re unlikely to have full attendance for every meeting. In the initial meeting you’ll need to decide the following between you:
1. Where you are going to meet
A fixed location is probably easiest at first, especially if you want to keep membership open for newcomers throughout the year. Choose somewhere that is going to give you adequate space to sit comfortably in a circle, that is quiet enough for you to speak freely, where you will not be disturbing other people, and where parking is not an issue. Are members happy to pay for a good location? Do you want refreshments to be available?
2. When you are going to meet
Choose a time of day and a day of the week that suits as many of your members as possible. Once a month is ideal for Book Group meetings, as that gives you all plenty of time to read the books without feeling under too much pressure.
3. What format the meetings will take
Will one person chair every meeting or will members take it in turns to chair a meeting each? Will you invite guest speakers (maybe local authors) along to some meetings? Will you branch out to the theatre or the cinema if what they are showing happens to tie in with a particular book you are reading?
4. What books to read
Are you going to provide a list of books for members to choose from or are you going to let the members bring along their own suggestions? It’s often helpful to ask people to bring along a few of their favourite books so that they can be passed around, briefly introduced and then voted for. Your choice of books for the year ahead is crucial; if you choose books that prove to be unpopular then reading them will become a chore and you will lose members. Try to pick books that are well-written, not too long, challenging but not intimidating, and with themes, characters and ideas that could provoke plenty of discussion.
Here’s a year’s worth of tried and tested Reading Group classics to start you off…
, by Emma Donaghue, is just such a novel, fully living up the hype surrounding its acquisition by Macmillan, and destined to enjoy a prominent position on book shop shelves for many years to come. The novel is narrated, from start to finish, by a five-year-old boy – a five-year-old boy who has spent every second of his life to date locked a twelve-foot-square room. Jack’s mother, ‘Ma’, was kidnapped at the age of nineteen and imprisoned in the shed of her kidnapper and repeated raper – a scenario remeniscent of the real-life incarceration of Elisabeth Fritzl. It is a situation that Ma is desperate to escape from; for Jack, it is all he knows.