Each book club is unique, but some pieces of advice can be applied to them across the board. To wit, here are five book-selecting tips from ILoveLibraries.org, an initiative of the American Library Association, which could benefit any club.
- Don’t choose favorites. Sure, you may have loved that recent bestseller du jour. But how will you react when fellow club members tear it apart? (Imagine them calling your kids ugly; it’ll feel a lot like that.) A better plan? Pick a book that no one already has strong opinions about.
- Do mix things up. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy (or a homicidal maniac; see “The Shining”). The same goes for an endless stream of the same-old, same-old genre. So be creative! If you’ve read fiction for the last five months, try a biography. Up to your eyeballs in poetry? Switch to a whodunit the next time around.
- Do embrace themes. During one three- or four-month period, choose books — from different genres — that explore a certain topic or issue. If your topic is travel, for instance, you could read a nonfiction book about a particular region, a memoir from a writer who grew up there, and a novel set in that place.
- Don’t plan too far ahead. Avoid selecting all the year’s books at once; a long list of titles feels eerily like a syllabus. Instead, live a little! Leave room on your schedule for surprising new books that may burst onto the scene.
- Do plan a tiny bit ahead. Go ahead and decide on the next two or three books you’ll be reading. That gives members a chance to read at their own pace and not feel like they’re hopelessly out of the loop if they miss a meeting or two.
Click here to learn more about ILoveLibraries.org and the American Library Association.
Have a great tip for helping book clubs run more smoothly? Email it to [email protected] or share it in the comments section below!
