My book club started in 2007, and when I talk to people about it, they often say something like “I had a book club but we just stopped meeting,” etc., and they asked how we’ve kept this one going for 18 years. I’ve given this advice many times, so I thought I would just write it down.

  1. The most important part is to buddy up with people who value reading. Especially in the case of “moms” (sorry, moms), many people are more interested in saying they are in a book club, or socializing with their friends, than they are in actually reading. That’s fine, but maybe what you want to start is a monthly get-together rather than a book club.

  2. The second most important part is to choose the date and time of the next meeting AT THE PREVIOUS MEETING. Then keep that date and time, even if not everyone can make it. If you try and set or change the date over email, your book club is doomed, because there won’t be a date that everyone can make, and over email, no one will want to say “let’s just have it on X date even though Jen can’t come,” and the thread will just go silent. But in person, Jen is likely to volunteer, “It’s OK, if that’s the only date that works for everyone, I’ll just skip that meeting.”

  3. When picking the date, also pick the “club host” for the next meeting. It’s the club host’s job to come up with a few discussion questions to get things going, and to keep the discussion on topic (i.e. remind people that we’re discussing the book!) if it veers off for too long.

  4. Plan time for socializing! People will naturally want to catch up with each other. At my book club, we plan 6-7 to eat and chat. At 7, the club host reminds everyone that it’s time to discuss the book.

  5. This is optional, but keep track of the books you read. I have always kept a spreadsheet, and it’s fun to look back on the nearly 200 books we have read together.

  6. It helps if you start with a core group of people who are already friends. That way, people have extra incentive to show up, even if they haven’t read the book, because they want to see each other.

  7. We choose our books 2 books ahead — in other words, at each meeting, we already know what book we’ll be reading next, and vote on the book that we’ll read after that. That way, people can read ahead and then stay on track when life gets busy and they don’t have time to read.

  8. The way we have found effective for picking books is: a) We have a running list of nominations. Anyone can nominate a book while present at a meeting (not over email!). That’s another incentive to attend. b) At each meeting, everyone gets 2 votes, and we go through the nominations list. You can vote for 2 different books or cast 2 votes for the same book. c) A book that gets 0 votes at any meeting is taken off the running nominations list. d) Book with the most votes wins.

  9. We score our books at each meeting, because that gives people another incentive to attend. At the end of the meeting, each person rates the book from 0.0 to 5.0, and we record the average.

Those are the most important habits that have kept my book club going for 18 years. It also helps to have someone organized and good at project management (in this case, me!) running the show and jumping in if someone drops the ball.

Happy reading!