Seven Steps to Starting a Successful Book Club

1. Select the members; friends you would like to invite to participate. Variety of ages or similar decades? What is your rationale for the group?

Our group is all women--friends already—and we wanted to carve out time to see each other regularly while we would be "forced" to read books we may not choose to read on our own.

2. Getting Started: The first organizational meeting. Set a date to meet and discuss the ideas. Ask your friends, "Do we want to do this?" Then discuss the items below.

I took the lead on this because it was my idea. Everyone couldn't come to this meeting but it got us started. Then one member emailed everyone and we all agreed on a date and time.

3. Hosting the meetings. Where will you meet? How will you select the time and date of the meetings?

Our group meets at my house because it is a central location for most members and there is lots of space. Setting the dates is the most difficult task because the group has grown to 12 members (even though everyone does not come every time). I recommend that calendar be set at the organizational meeting and not be changed even though all the members can't come every time.

Other options for meeting are: Rotating houses among members. Using the library, using a local coffee shop or other public location.

Monthly meetings work best. When we tried to meet just four times a year it lost momentum.

4. Refreshments: Pros and Cons.

Our group enjoyed dinner and wine at every meeting. We started out with each of us bringing something and sometimes we called out for pizza or Chinese food and split the cost. The benefit to this: No one had to cook that night!

Sometimes the food can take away from the book discussion. We often called ourselves the supper club because it took us a bit to get to the book discussion sometimes.

It depends on where you have your meetings whether food is an option or a need. Also the time of day and who are your members will be factors. If everyone is retired you can meet during the day for tea or breakfast, etc.

5. Selecting the books. Where to get good titles: The library, the New York Times and other book lists, local book store displays of what other book groups are reading.

There is no shortage of good books. Agreeing on which ones you will read requires a process, however. The books should be chosen at the organizational meeting and listed for the entire year. We let everyone bring ideas and then we use consensus to select. This year we are considering genres for some of the months instead of all reading the same book. So biography, mystery, romance – everyone would read one and bring it to the meeting and share. We still want to read "the same book" some months.

Our organizational meeting for the year is in August, where we set dates and select books. Then one person emails the others and we are all set for the year. If you don't come to that meeting, you can email or phone in your choices.

6. And discussing them! Leading the meetings: What's the protocol?

Even though it's informal – people do want to discuss the books and with lots of women talking it's a challenge sometimes to keep focused. So we appoint a leader at each meeting. If there are questions in the back of the book, we use them or we simply ask each other, "Did you like it?" and "Why or why not?"

Ground rules: Is someone has not yet finished the book we decide that we will discuss it anyway. In the past, we didn't want to give away the ending, so we would not discuss it. But we decided this year that if someone didn't finish it, then it shouldn't hold up the rest of the group from the discussion.

7. Assessing the year. Deciding if you want to continue for another year! Modifying the dates, times, etc. New members? Drop members? Do all the steps on this page again!

We have continued for three years! We will begin our fourth year this fall!

July 2006
Adapted from a handout by Carol Pelletier, director of practicum experience and teacher induction at Boston College.

Last modified: Wednesday, September 6, 2006