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Book Club Tips

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Dawn Meehan

Dawn lives with her six children on the outskirts of Chicago where she practices her juggling skills daily. On any given evening, Dawn can be found taking one child to cheerleading practice, dropping another off at church, making dinner, going the grocery store, paying the bills, kissing a boo-boo, reading a bedtime story, making school lunches, cleaning up muddy footprints, folding some laundry, taking a child to the ER, and writing blog posts.After Dawn auctioned a pack of Pokemon cards on eBay, she attracted the attention of nearly a hundred thousand readers in one day. Her blog, BecauseISaidSo.com skyrocketed to become one of the most popular mommy blogs on the... Read full bio

Book Club Tips

Starting Your Own Reading Group

Ask people you know to help you organize the first meeting. Decide the ideal size for your group. Smaller groups (somewhere between four and ten) are great because they allow everyone a chance to participate, while larger groups (ten-plus) allow for greater diversity. You can also have special guest meetings where people invite friends or co-workers to join.

Mapping Out Meeting Logistics

Where will the group meet?
How often?
What time?
Are refreshments served?

Selecting Books

Identify what types of books you will read. Do you want to focus on specific topics or genres?

Decide how you will choose the books –discuss candidates and vote, host/hostess pick, members take turns, random drawings –all have their benefits and your group may try several methods before finding the right one.

Choose books that challenge the group and generate discussion. Books with additional resources such as reading group guides, publisher/author websites with author interviews, enhanced bios, blogs, etc. add new dimensions to the conversation.

All Book Club Picks

Discussing Books

Consider what atmosphere you want to cultivate. Groups may be serious and academic in tone, or lighthearted and social. It's important to establish the tone as well as the pace of the meeting. "Social hour" may be designated at the top of the meeting with a specific time designated for the start of the book discussion.