It's time to start a Book Club, or if you're really feeling like a badass, go the extra mile and make it a Ladies Book Coven like we did! It is absurdly fun to plan Wine & Cheese Nights or Brunches with a larger network of friends than usual, and you don't need to worry about all the new friend awkward silences because you have a built in foundational topic in advance.
It also serves as a launch pad because you can form outings to go see the movie adaption in theaters or marathon the BBC special of an old adaptation at home. Or it could lead to a Book Exchange party where everyone brings a copy of a favorite book, does up a cute little tag like these, and swaps for someone else's:
There were plenty of great girls that I was meeting at parties or work, but it was hard to clear the basic hurdles of what you do and who you're dating and where you go shopping. After only reading and discussing 3 books so far, I've ended up genuinely surprised at people's reading tastes, their viewpoints on characters or ideas, and so interested in the way our shared book makes them bring up anecdotes or stories from their life. I feel like I'm digging deeper into what makes these women tick than I ever would've organically in surface conversation.
I've also gotten the extra push to read outside my comfort zone. The more diverse the women, the more likely that there will be a push for books outside of your regular range. For me, I'm just as likely to use the subtle pressure of Book Club to make myself start a book that I'd flagged ages ago and been meaning to get to but hadn't.
So now that I've convinced you that you need one, how are you going to get going?
Odds are really good that you're first concern is that you don't have anyone to do it with. If you really stretch your mind though, I bet you can come up with an interesting mix of coworkers, neighbors, girl friends, friends' girlfriends etc. I found that women generally loved the idea of meeting all of those friend of a friends that we always say we'll introduce them to, then never do. Once you have a little core group established, you can have a first meeting to do introductions and choose a first book, or choose a book in advance to spread the word with and let your first gathering be a true Book Club meeting to discuss that book.
Once you have the ladies, you need the book! Finding that sweet spot has been a little bit tricky for me in my general reading, and I've found that Book Club crowdsourcing is perfect for this. We have a Facebook group and we post a poll to choose the next book where people vote for what interests them and can add in new books, too, so it isn't just one person offering choices. If you don't recognize a title, it's easy to hop on Goodreads and check out a description.
I haven't met anyone who uses this model of choosing all of the books in advance but I can definitely see the merits. You can do a lot more advance reading and avoid not finishing at the last minute, you're more likely to actually get your monthly meeting done because missing one would put you a specific book behind, and it's probably a really fun night doing the initial list in December.
Most important rule about Book Club? It's not Freshman Lit. No one's getting graded, no one should be trying to knock down each other's ideas, and you should do yourself a favor by dodging potentially divisive books in advance.
I like bringing people together in different configurations than might naturally occur, and I like the way that Book Coven serves as an excuse for us to officially book a date to hang out without worrying that you're being too forward or awkward asking someone to do a girl date with you, or that you'll make plans and have people bail at the last minute.
What do you think? Are you already in a Book Club? Would you consider starting one in your circle?
I'd eat the cupcakes and drink the wine.
ReplyDeleteAs any reasonable person should ;)
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