5 Keys to the Successful Book Club

Seeing as how one of my hopes for this blog is to inspire other book clubs, I thought I would hand out some ideas that have helped me run my own. I'm not an expert by any means, but I'd like to think that the following ideas offer practical suggestions to run a book club well.

1. Eat and Drink
To a large extent, the success of a book club hinges on the group that is discussing the book. The more relaxed and open people are with each other, the more interesting and lively the discussion will be. So why not start the night off with a potluck meal? Nothing builds relationships like a dinner table, and making it a potluck allows everyone to contribute. Whether you organize the menu ahead of time, or make it a free for all, having a communal meal frees you up to get to know the people behind the critics. A little bit of wine never hurt, either.

2. Pick the Right Books
Mark Twain once wrote that, "A classic is a book that everyone wants to have read, but nobody wants to read." Often people think that they need to pick great works of literary art, with vast depth and symbolism, in order to have a successful book club. I think this is a mistake. Pick books that the people in the group actually want to read, and will enjoy reading. If you have a group of bibliophiles, then by all means read Joyce, Spenser and Milton. But if the group has little literary training, then they won't enjoy hearing about the symbolism of Madame Bovary. Have people in the group suggest their favorite books, and try to have a general consensus on what to read. I'd also suggest alternating fiction and non-fiction, especially if there are widely divergent tastes in your group.

3. Give Enough Time
There are fast readers, and there are slow readers, and your group may well be a mix of both. Not everyone will be able to read War and Peace in a single month. For my group, meeting once every four or five weeks seems to be the right pace - it may not be for your group. If you pick a longer book, maybe do it over two sessions. The point is for people to enjoy reading the book, and don't worry if they haven't finished it by the time the meeting rolls around. If they liked it, they are likely to finish it on their own, for their own satisfaction.

4. Be Relaxed
The discussion doesn't have to follow the book, and there doesn't have to be a lecture on the background of the author and possible interpretations. Focus on the response and the experience of reading the book from your group. What did they like, what did they not like? What stuck out to them in the story? How do they relate to the themes or the characters? By allowing the experience of the reading to set the context for the book, everyone in the group starts from a common ground (unless they haven't read the book!). And it allows everyone to have something to say about the book, whether they know what the flowers symbolize or not.

5. Be Prepared
Once in while, for whatever reason, it's hard to get a good discussion started. Either the book didn't resonate with people, or no one can think of anything to say about it, or maybe they didn't get what the book was driving at. If you're the host, take a few minutes to note down some passages that stuck out to you, and if the discussion is slow to get going, open it up and read one aloud, and share why you picked that passage. Often, just doing that is enough to get people talking and interaction around the material.

Of course, your book club will have off nights, where people may not really feel like discussing the book. It happens, and it doesn't mean you picked a bad book, or that people don't want to participate. But these five things have helped make our book club a memorable event, where people have fun, get to know one another, and will have their minds and imaginations stimulated through literature. If that happens, consider your book club a complete success.