Advic e on book clubs
Keep it from flopping by following these tips.
Alove of reading is what usually brings people together to form a book club. But, like any kind of group, each book club develops its own culture, structure, personality and rules. This is especially true of the ones that meet in members’ living rooms vs. libraries or stores.
“The book clubs that are successful are the ones that know their purpose,” says Priya Parker, an expert on conflict resolution and author of “The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters.” And different people want different things, says Parker, who calls herself a “slightly delinquent” member of a Brooklyn women’s book club. “Often there’s a lack of clarity and a range of expectations.”
There is no one definition of a book club or right way to run it. Purists might think they should be only for reading and thoughtful conversation and even shun a chunk of pepperjack on the coffee table. Some book groups simply serve tea. Others relish the challenge of composing dinner menus relating to the book, with inventive tablescapes to match.
Like long-term marriages, a monthly group that has been getting together for years can fall into a bit of a rut, or some members’ priorities may change. It’s worth checking in every once in a while and taking cues from some other inventive groups.
So, I surveyed some bibliophiles for ideas. I’ll also include one from my own 23-year-old club, where six of us discuss a book over cocktail hour and dinner: We sometimes provide party favors, such as when we read “Circe” by Madeline Miller, and our hostess put Greek goddess laurel leaf headbands by each table setting.
Find the right mix
Doug Erickson, a university relations specialist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, has been in a co-ed seven-person book group for 12 years. The most important part of a book club for him is the members. “You need to approach the membership of your book club with the precision, pragmatism and ruthlessness of the NFL draft. You can’t be sentimental. Be extremely wary of the overtalker and the mansplainer,” he says. “One blowhard can ruin the whole thing.” In his club, members take turns hosting, but no meal is served; it’s Sunday night drinks, light snacks and “a chocolate element.”
He says if you’re thinking of adding to your group, look for people who have an open mind, people who love reading so much that they will enjoy discussing a lousy book as much as a good one and people who are selfaware enough to know when to stop talking and relinquish the floor to someone else.
Keep it casual, but be creative
Connor Massei loves to read, and so do some of his friends, so two years ago, they formed a book club. (The club is on Instagram @book boys worldwide.) “None of us had any idea of what we were doing, and we didn’t even Google how we should run this,” says Massei, who lives in Arlington, Virginia, and is an account manager at a security company. The members, in their late 20s and early 30s, meet in one of the member’s homes. “The food isn’t fancy,” Massei says. “Members show up with something, whether a bag of chips or a charcuterie board and some beer.” He says they like to get into the spirit of a book. When they read “The Sun Also Rises,” they toasted Ernest Hemingway with rum.
Add some sparkle
Some clubs invite local authors to make guest appearances or have an annual quiz to see how much members recall about the books they read that year.
Michiel Perry, who runs the Black
Southern Belle blog (blacksouthernbelle.com), thinks a creative table setting can add fun, but it shouldn’t create stress. She used to be in a book club, but with a newborn and a toddler, she’s taking a break. She thinks the food should be based on how much time the group has to commit to prep. That can change as people’s lives do, but that doesn’t mean you can’t come up with a few literary decor touches. She recalls one book club meeting at which someone wrote out meaningful quotes from the book and arranged them around the table.
Although she loves entertaining, Kaitlin Moss of the Every Hostess blog (theeveryhostess.com) thinks book clubs should “feel cozy and relaxed, take the pressure off the hostess.”
She says the vibe should reflect the feelings of the members.
Change with the times
In 1997, Janet Douglas, now retired from the Smithsonian, was part of a monthly potluck mother-daughter book club. The girls were about 7 years old, and the moms were baby boomers. Back then, she says, there weren’t really any hard-and-fast rules. They would talk about the book and do an activity or craft related to it. When the girls were in high school, moms and daughters alternated choosing the reads. The club is still going, minus the daughters, who went on to college and their own book groups.
Today, Douglas says she has some new suggestions in mind for her club — perhaps predetermined discussion questions or new methods of choosing books that spark a good exchange of ideas.
Take a moment
Davina Morgan-Witts says adaptability is key for a long-lasting book club. She’s the founder of Book Browse (bookbrowse.com), a website that recommends books and is a source for all things book clubs. The site suggests an annual check-in with members, an open discussion to see whether everyone is still on the same page about the length of the discussions, book choices, new members and refreshments.
“It’s really good to figure out what is working and what is not,” Morgan-Witts says. “Defining the rules of your group is important. Some people may be getting fed up of hearing only Brenda’s views every month.”