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01/10/2007, 14:12 Pads Joined on 24/05/2006 Cornwall/ Montage Noir Posts 3,120 Book club any Ideas? Our local mobile library suggested the other day that he would get us copies of the same book if we fancied starting a book club. I really liked this Idea and have so far found 4 other people who would like to give it a try as well. I have offered to have the first one at my house and then we could take it in turns. I have never been to one before so I was hoping for some Ideas Please I guess we get the book, How long do you give people to read it ? Should we then meet once a month ? At the meeting has any one got any good opening questions / statements that will get people going ? Is there any thing else I should be doing I was thinking depending on what time we meet, making tea/ coffee/ wine  and nibbles is this a good Idea or will it just distract us . Has any one ever started one?  Many thanks     Dirty Tom =^..^= Where ever I lay my paw thats my home    Report

01/10/2007, 14:22 LisaJ Joined on 17/10/2004 Posts 106 Re: Book club any Ideas? Yes, we have been running for a year now. We meet one morning every month and the host member provides coffee and biscuits. We started off trying to discuss one book, but found that it was difficult / expensive for everyone to read the same book. Now we choose a monthly theme (biography, diaires, First World War, thrillers etc) and talk for about 5-10 minutes about our book. We decide on the theme two meetings in advance. After the meeting we make a list of the books we have read and circulate it by email. We have found that there are always a few people missing from each meeting so we have been having a bit of a recruitment drive; I think about 12-15 members would be ideal, then you might get 10 at each meeting. There is quite a lot of useful stuff on the web about starting a book club. Hope this helps. Lisa    Report

01/10/2007, 14:36 Pads Joined on 24/05/2006 Cornwall/ Montage Noir Posts 3,120 Re: Book club any Ideas? Thanks for that LisaJ . One small worry .......Do you make people talk in turn ! I was kind of hoping it would be a open discussion as I think the few ladies I have already, may feel a little pressured if they had to talk rather than chipping in as and when. Im a little like that myself happy to talk but hate that feeling of the focus being on me if you know what I mean I was hoping to open the talk with a profound , thought provoking question and let the conversation grow.  Looking for some Ideas there !! We are lucky that the library are going to give us a list of multible books they have as they are trying to promote the Idea , so we have left it up to the mobile man to choose our first one for us and we will pick our next one from the list .  I will check the web as you suggested and see whats there    Dirty Tom =^..^= Where ever I lay my paw thats my home    Report

02/10/2007, 12:16 LisaJ Joined on 17/10/2004 Posts 106 Re: Book club any Ideas? I think I thought it would be a free discussion, but we have ended up with people speaking individually (partly because we all have a different book), then others chip in with questions. People are sometimes quite reluctant to speak and you need to be ready to scaffold the discussion, especially at first. I think I was very used to chairing discussions with groups of teachers, who always have plenty to say, so I was quite surprised by the first few meetings, but it is all much more relaxed and chatty now. regards Lisa    Report

03/10/2007, 21:15 Normandie Joined on 03/10/2007 St Lo/Coutances Posts 33 Re: Book club any Ideas? So far our favourite at book club has been:  The Kite Runner (with 'We need to talk about Kevin' 2nd). We meet every 4/5 weeks roughly - 8 of us. The main thing is that everyone must commit to reading the book - obvious I know, but doesn't always happen!  I always try to get my copy from the library/charity shop/2nd hand from amazon/fellow book clubber as, unfortunately, some of the reads aren't worth the £7.99!!! charged for a new paperback. Works quite well if you have a rota so that people know when it's going to be their turn to host it and review the book they chose with everyone and then the next date can be set at the end of the meeting and the next book - out of a choice of three (if poss) voted for.  Definitely need some wine and crisps! Good luck!   Normandie       Normandie    Report

08/10/2007, 12:18 junebaby Joined on 27/12/2006 Lot et Garonne Posts 23 Re: Book club any Ideas? A group of us (mums from school) used to meet most Friday mornings for coffee and as we were all readers we thought we would start a book club.  As it was my idea, I started to look around on the internet for sites dedicated to book clubs and whilst they were relatively helpful I found it hard to believe that a group of women together would only chat for 15 minutes about daily life and the rest of the time would be spent talking about the book - we were the other way round!! I started off by hosting at my house and choosing the book (Time Travellers Wife - my all time fave) and on the same day someone else volunteered to have it at their house and got to choose the book and it went on from there.  We bought the books individually but sometimes if you order from Amazon and check the box that says it's for a book club you get a bit of a discount. We read Catcher in the Rye, Northern Lights, Rebecca, Perfume and some other "off the shelf" books from Tesco which was a nice change.  We did try to talk about the book as much as possible and some of them got more of a reaction than others but I would say it was more of a chance to get together for coffee and biscuits than anything else - very lighthearted. There were 7/8 of us at any one time and I think that's enough unless you want to be talking into the wee small hours! Good luck!    Report

12/10/2007, 14:14 bill k Joined on 09/10/2007 Posts 10 Re: Book club any Ideas? I don't know where you live, we are in Vienne near Civray, but we have a book exchange at our house once a month. It is totally free and all you do is bring your read books with you and swap them with the other people there. We also have a selection of books that are available to swap. This is also a kind of club so you also meet new people. Another advantage is that you are not commited to go every time. best of luck    Report

02/12/2007, 7:52 Pads Joined on 24/05/2006 Cornwall/ Montage Noir Posts 3,120 Re: Book club any Ideas? Well its a couple of months down the line since I started this thread and we have for the last month been reading The no 1 ladies dectective agency, and this tuesday is our first meeting, I have managed to get the group up to 10, I would like to make a bowl of questions conversation starters for any one who cant think of anything to say to take the pressure of any shyness, I have made a few but would love some Ideas of any questions that you may have , if you have read this book. Many thanks      Dirty Tom =^..^= Where ever I lay my paw thats my home    Report

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