My Book Club: FAQs
Ten years ago, I started a book club with the ladies in my office. It has become one of the most beautiful groups of friends and something that I truly look forward to (as does the group as a whole). I have had many people ask how the club works, so thought I would take some time to share about it today.
How often does your book club meet?
We meet every other month, so just six times a year. We have found this rhythm works well for people, particularly those that aren’t reading a ton beyond book club. We meet in February, April, June, August, October, December. We find that the lowest attendance numbers tend to be in June and August.
There are 40ish people on our list and 12-16 attend each gathering, with the exception of Christmas, which is usually 16-20.
Does your book club meet on a certain day?
The day changes with each gathering, but we do it on a weeknight, Monday – Thursday. The host gets to offer dates that work for her, and then we send out a poll about 6 weeks before the gathering. The winning date is then set and everyone has four-ish weeks to plan to attend.
How does your book club select the books it reads?
Everyone is invited to bring books to the table for consideration, but since I read the most, it tends to mostly be my recommendations – ha! We email out suggestions ahead of the gathering (usually the week of our gathering) so people can peruse reviews on Amazon, etc.
The one important criteria — the books must have a 4.5 star rating or higher on Amazon. Goodreads reviewers can be so critical that we use Amazon as the benchmark. The 4.5 usually means that it will be liked by most/all of the book.
We tend to mostly read newer books, though have done an older book a few times.
The group is pretty evenly split between listening to books on Audible and reading physical copies, so we do pay attention to if a book has a good audio version!
What are Great Books for book clubs to read?
Click here for a list of many of the books we have read for my book club over the years.
I like rich, well-written contemporary fiction and well-research fiction/historical fiction, so you will find many of those types of the books on this list. We read VERY little fluff/chick lit. All books and all reading is good, but for this book club it is important to me that the books make us think, change us, make us more compassionate, etc.
How far in Advance does your book club select its books?
We always know the next TWO books we are going to read. So, in December, we selected our April book. Make sense?
Some book clubs opt to pick the whole year, but we like selecting just two at a time because we can pivot based on how discussions have been, how people have been feeling, the season we are in, etc. Other book clubs let the host pick, but not all hosts are voracious readers, so we let the group pick. Whoever is in attendance gets to decide the next selection.
Where Does your book club meet?
We rotate hosting. There are enough of us, and we meet infrequently enough, that many people will go years between hosting! The person who hosts provides dinner and wine.
We have done everything from soups to enchiladas to take out. Anything goes, as long as there is dinner. We are an easy bunch to please.
We start at 5:30 and usually wrap between 7 and 7:30 pm.
A few times over the years we have met for lunch. These rare meetings have been in the summer when evenings are harder because of various commitments.
Who is in the group and how do people get added?
This book club is exclusively for the women in the department where I used to work. People who have gone on to have different jobs are still welcome to come to the book club. It is a wonderful group and people have asked to join, but by keeping it to just those in the department, it has made it easier to say yes and no.
Start a Book Club!
I would encourage anyone to start a book club – with work friends, neighbors, church friends, whatever. Keep it simple, choose good books and offer yummy food and you’ll be set. I’ve had so many women in my book club say that the book club has changed how they read. They find that they are reading better, more interesting books, all thanks to the club. More importantly, I believe our relationships with one another have deepened thanks to gathering outside the office. It’s truly been a game changer.