| How to host a cozy book club. |
Books are our window into different places, times and minds. The tribe of book readers is strong, so it was inevitable that we find a way to connect. One of the book clubs I founded had people from diverse backgrounds joining in. There were avid readers who joined, there were some who had turned away from reading due to demands of work or the million things that get in the way. Some like me, who find that while reading is an intensely solitary activity, the end of a book raises so many questions and feelings that you need to sound it out with others who have been through the same to wallow or float in collective emotion.
Like any group, that has to stay beyond the initial interest, we have a few guidelines to keep ours growing and exciting.
- We ask for a volunteer to host the meet which is usually planned a month ahead
- It is the host’s prerogative to choose the book of the month, though they often ask members to vote to help them make the final choice
- Host sends out 10-12 questions a few days before the meet to give us enough time to dwell on them
- On the day of meet up, we gather for some chai or wine and catch up before sitting down to discuss the main event- our book of the month
- Having a set of questions that are already shared, helps anchor the discussion and relive the entire book by bringing out how each of us felt about different characters or events. We do need to practice a lot of self restraint to not mention our blanket yay or nay at the outset before we have gone through all our questions. This is gratifying because our opinions are often changed listening to how others related to the story and that surely is a sign of the open minds we are surrounded with. Some hosts have also introduced interactive activities that make us connect over the book in new ways.
- Yes, we are a feisty group and conversations can get animated and loud so we then dig out a talking stick on such occasions that we pass on to whoever is speaking next, so others listen before following up with their thoughts.
- Before parting, we ask for a volunteer for the next meet and then the fun begins with anticipating the next title and date of meeting.
You can mix it up by having a diverse set of books to read, from murder mysteries to romance, to biographies as well as slice of life – easy reads, much needed, to get us out of our reading blocks or busy festive occasions.
It is a relief to find a set of people with whom you can argue for a character that is deemed a villain by another and then together, burst in laughter a moment later at a discovered plot hole. We look forward to these meetings when we can chat up over a delicacy the host serves, along with a little structure to our conversation.
The best aspect of book clubs is that they make you cross your comfort zone of usual suspects and make you read a book which you may never pick up, but for the hostess’ mandate. It makes me surprisingly happy to concede every time I fall in love with a book which I never thought was my usual genre – Circe, The Museum of Modern Love, All My Puny Sorrows spring to mind. Conversely, it is equally rewarding when people love a book as intensely as you did when you first read them like with Normal People, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry or A Gentleman in Moscow.
It is rarely the case that a book is a unanimous hit or a miss, and it is only by discussing and listening to each other’s views, no matter if they are contradictory to ours, do we discover what we may have missed while reading with our opinion blinkers on.
It is lovely to find fellow booklovers within your community. Go ahead and initiate a book club to enhance the joy of reading.
Hosting Easy
