Posted on: February 28, 2023
With the first meeting of our very own book club fast approaching, we’re sharing some guidelines on hosting your own book club for those not able to make it and fancy having a go at their own reading group. Quite a lot of thought goes into preparing for a book club meeting, especially if you’re leading the session. We hope that these guidelines will help you cultivate a safe, meaningful and fulfilling reading group.
First and foremost, there are lots of decisions to be made. How many people would you like in your book club? How often would you like to meet? Will you read a specific genre, or take suggestions from the group? These are all important questions that need to be answered.
Number of members
- The ideal group size for a book club is usually between eight and ten people. This is large enough to allow a mixture of opinions and perspective, while being small enough that everyone can have a voice.
Frequency of meetings
- Most book groups meet monthly. This gives everyone enough time to read the book around busy schedules, and form some interesting points of discussion too. Our book club will be meeting once a month too!
Where you’re going to meet
- The majority of reading groups meet in libraries, cafes, pubs or bookshops like ours! It’s nice to have a nice surrounding environment, especially one that’s relevant. Above all, it’s important to meet in a public place, for the safety of all group members.
What books you will be reading
- It’s a good idea to decide on a genre, so that everyone knows what to expect. Once you’ve chosen a genre, you’ll need to decide how you’re going to choose a book each month. Perhaps you’d like to take turns to suggest a book, have a lucky dip, or vote on a selection of titles.
It’s also good practice to hold a pre-book club meeting to discuss all of these details and how the book club will be ran going forward. We hope this will guide you in creating a warm and welcoming book club – some other great resources include Penguin, The Reading Agency and Oprah Daily.
Happy reading!
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