Want to join a book club but can’t find one that interests you? Set up your own. Here are a few steps that will help you do just that.
Think of a Theme
A theme, of course, is not a necessity, but definitely worth thinking about before you start looking for reading pals. Do you have a specific genre or era you’re interested in? Would you like to read only women writers or writers of colour or maybe read all the Dickens novels? This will probably affect who’ll be joining your book club.
Recruit!
Text your friends. Post on social media. Tell people to share your post. Post to a student mailing list. There are a lot of ways to recruit members to your club.
Decide on a Method of Communication
It might be a Facebook or a Whatsapp group or whatever the group prefers – important thing is, you have a communication channel accessible for all members. This is where you vote on meeting times, talk about where to order a book, send memes… you know, all the important stuff!
Be Organised
This is very important. Once you have a group of readers, you need to plan 1) how often you meet 2) where you meet (I recommend Zoom during these trying times) 3) how many books you read for each meeting 4) a possible discussion leader 5) possible themes or questions to think about and so on.
Schedule
I recommend you stick to a particular day (e.g. the first Monday of the month) but what is important is that you have some fort of an idea about a schedule, and that you stick to it as a group. Decide on a date that works for everybody early on. If finding a spot that fits everyone’s schedule proves tricky, try scheduling polls (I find Doodle works very well).
Have Fun!
Though organising is often important, particularly with a bigger group, don’t stress it! Just have fun, enjoy the books you read, write down the thoughts you want too share, and get together with friends to talk about literature! That’s what a book club is all about, after all!