Rules or No Rules?
Does your reading group have a set of ground rules? Heather Johnson tells us why her book club, which has been going strong for three years, recently instituted some rules --- and what they are.
My book club has been growing since we began in Summer '05. Recently, though, we've had a growth spurt, adding 5 new members over the past several months (with 3 joining last month alone). Our regular attending members now number 18, and there are others who always intend to come but never make it.
We realize that the influx of new members has the potential to change our club drastically, for better or worse. To avoid the "worse" we decided to spend some time establishing guidelines that we could all live with. Here's what we decided on:
1. Three times a year we'll stay a bit longer at our regular meeting to choose the books and set meeting dates for the next four months. Everyone can bring a book to suggest; the four books with the most votes will be chosen.
2. No one is obligated to host. We're happy to meet at a quiet restaurant, church, or other space.
3. New members are great, but we don't want to get too big. For now our membership is open, but we may decide to close it at a later date.
4. A reasonable reading goal is 100 pages per week. The time between meetings will vary based on the book we're reading.
5. If you can't finish a book in the allotted time you are still welcome to attend the meeting. But if you are consistently not reading, do you really want to be in the book club?
6. We are definitely interested in meeting/speaking with authors and are willing to rearrange our book schedule if the opportunity arises.
We also discussed having a family party once a year. The group was split on this one --- exactly half said yes, and exactly half said no --- but when I asked who would be willing to plan and host, no one stepped up...so we nixed that idea!
These guidelines are something new for us --- I never thought we'd be a "rule" group. Does your club have "rules"? If so, are they similar to our guidelines? Do you find that they are restricting or that they help keep things running smoothly? Obviously we're hoping for the latter. We want to preserve what we love about our club while adding fresh perspectives at the same time. Wish us luck!
---Heather Johnson
My book club has been growing since we began in Summer '05. Recently, though, we've had a growth spurt, adding 5 new members over the past several months (with 3 joining last month alone). Our regular attending members now number 18, and there are others who always intend to come but never make it.
We realize that the influx of new members has the potential to change our club drastically, for better or worse. To avoid the "worse" we decided to spend some time establishing guidelines that we could all live with. Here's what we decided on:
1. Three times a year we'll stay a bit longer at our regular meeting to choose the books and set meeting dates for the next four months. Everyone can bring a book to suggest; the four books with the most votes will be chosen.
2. No one is obligated to host. We're happy to meet at a quiet restaurant, church, or other space.
3. New members are great, but we don't want to get too big. For now our membership is open, but we may decide to close it at a later date.
4. A reasonable reading goal is 100 pages per week. The time between meetings will vary based on the book we're reading.
5. If you can't finish a book in the allotted time you are still welcome to attend the meeting. But if you are consistently not reading, do you really want to be in the book club?
6. We are definitely interested in meeting/speaking with authors and are willing to rearrange our book schedule if the opportunity arises.
We also discussed having a family party once a year. The group was split on this one --- exactly half said yes, and exactly half said no --- but when I asked who would be willing to plan and host, no one stepped up...so we nixed that idea!
These guidelines are something new for us --- I never thought we'd be a "rule" group. Does your club have "rules"? If so, are they similar to our guidelines? Do you find that they are restricting or that they help keep things running smoothly? Obviously we're hoping for the latter. We want to preserve what we love about our club while adding fresh perspectives at the same time. Wish us luck!
---Heather Johnson
posted by Carol Fitzgerald at
8:15 AM
10 Comments:
Our book club has been meeting since about 2002 I think. We have 11 now and that's the limit.
1. Whoever is hosting selects the book for the month.
2. We discuss books for 11 months and have a dinner at a restaurant in December with a summary wrap up for the year and an election to pick our favorite book for the year. We also read a Christmas short story so we can discuss a book. This year we elected to pick a month from a hat to set the book dates.
3. We use the reading guides when available but first we start the meeting by going around and everyone gives a brief personal statement about the book - like the book and why or dislike it and why. Then we go into the questions.
4. We always end with - who would play the characters if it were a movie.
5. You are required to read the book (although it's hard to enforce).
6. I moderate it to try to keep everyone ON TOPIC. It's easy to veer off.
We're pretty low key but we have a steady group and we seem to all be good friends now. Many have asked to join but that would be too many for a good discussion.
Maureen - Loved reading your ideas. I am curious as to why you chose to limit yourselves to 11 people. Carol
We have two rules..
No one can speak over someone that has the floor.
All books must be available from the library (since we are hosted by the library).
After 11 years that one rule may change because lately we've been wanting to read more current fiction and those titles are not always readily available from the library.
I work for a public library and moderate our two book groups. It has been quite an experience. One reads fiction/non-fiction and one is devoted to mysteries. I was quite interested to see the rules listed here. Our groups are not very old, only 15 months for the first and 8 months for the second. We are still evolving and changing. However, we have quite the attendance at the afternoon fic/nonfic group. It has been a challenge because since the library sponsors the group, it is difficult to close membership. We have had a few people come and go. Most are older ladies. Our discussions are brisk and spirited. The mystery group is smaller, meets in the evening, and is more informal. I love moderating both groups, but since mysteries are my most favorite genre, I love the fact that moderating duties are minor. Thanks for giving me some things to think about. Oh, one thing that we do is have a "Best of..." meeting in December for both groups. It is more of a party and we talk about our reading outside of the book group selections. It's also the only meeting where we eat snacks.
I'm grateful for this post, since I'm just starting a new book club and really want it to go well! I'll bring your rules to the next meeting and see what people think.
Our book club doesn't have any rules yet...but I think a rule about no pets/kids might have to be broached at some point in our group. I don't want to feel like no one is listening 'cause they're looking at the cute dog or baby...not that I mind a cute pet or baby, but aren't we there to discuss books?
I love having the question who would play a book's characters in a movie and am going to use it tomorrow night at our book group!
We limit our bookclub to 12. We do this so the club will not get too big and everyone has a month to choose their book.
Our book club is very similar to that of Maureens.
If we have read a book that is now a movie we will either rent the movie and watch it together or go to the theatre and watch it.
We have met with two authors. One on the phone and the other in person for dinner and discussion. It is always interesting speaking with the author and getting their points of view.
We also chose to limit our number to no more than 12 (we have 9 at that moment). It's almost impossible to have discussions that stay on track with more.
It took 2 years before all of our members started taking Book club seriously and not just "girls night out".
So for all of you just starting -- set some rules up front and adjust as the club (and personalities) evolve.
I started our book club just 15 months ago. The problem I am having now is one member keeps bringing her young child every month! I have asked her not too, but she just comes up with some lame excuse and does anyway! I am out of ideas, and how can I "make" someone abide by them?? Another mom is considering leaving the group because of it!! I also have a VERY loud,boisterous member who "one-ups" everyone and monopolizes the entire nights discussion!! I have privately spoken with both ladies and they are not making any positive changes, any suggestions???
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