Starting a Book Club or Reading Group
Why Join A Reading Group/Book Club?
A book club or reading discussion group is typically a group of people who get together on a regular basis to discuss books. There are plenty of reasons to join a book club or start your own, they can be an excellent way to enjoy books on a deeper level and challenge your min. They can also encourage you and your friends to read more, or read books that you might not normally choose but find you enjoy them anyway. In short, most people start or join a book club, to have fun, make friends, stimulate the brain and meet like minded people!
How To Find A Book Club/Reading Group to Join, or Publicize Your Own
A lot if not most reading groups start when a few friends get together and decide that they’d like to meet to discuss books on a regular basis. So if you want to start a group – who better to start with than your circle of friends who are likely to share similar interests and subjects?
If you’re looking to join a reading group a good place to start would be to ask your friends if they’re already part of a group or know somebody who is. Don’t be put off if they’re club is not open to new members though, as one of the most important dynamics of a book club is its size, so many groups restrict their membership to a limited number of people. But you can always ask if there is a waiting list to join and get your name on that.
If you’re new to an area or neighborhood and want to expand your literary horizons and get to know new people, a good place to start looking (or post an announcement) is your local library. Also, your local bookstores will often have notice boards or be able to put you in touch with people – they might even run a book club right from the store.
Finding people with similar time constraints and interests as your own can be a plus. If you have children in school, posting a notice in the school magazine or on the notice board is a good way to start looking for members or an existing group to join. Community centers, local newspapers churches and community centers are also good resources for finding a group or publicizing your own.
Because most book clubs/reading groups meet informally and often meet in private homes, there is no one stop resource, online or offline, for finding local groups. Having said that, with a little search engine research it’s quite likely you will find some groups in your area – especially if you live in an urban area. A general search on Google using the term ‘book club [add name of your town city]‘ will often produce a decent results page with links to all sorts of clubs and groups, including book clubs.
