In 1992, we moved into a house in a small development–only 44 houses total, if memory serves. I wanted to invest in my neighbor’s lives, so I made up some flyers and walked around the neighborhood, leaving one on each neighbor’s porch. “Come join the book club,” it said. “We’ll read SNOW IN AUGUST.” (A wonderful book I doubted anyone else had read.)
That night, I made some cookies and coffee and wondered if anyone would show up. One lady did, Becky Creveling, and we sat in my kitchen and talked about SNOW IN AUGUST. Since there were only two of us, we said we’d invite non neighbors for the next month’s meeting.
And so it began.
I enjoy talking about books, but more than that, I wanted to invest spiritually into the lives of my neighbors. To do that, I knew I couldn’t preach at them, so I thought we’d read all kinds of books, not only Christian novels. I can talk about a spiritual theme (or the lack of such) in any book.
After a year, the book club had grown to nearly 30 women, about half of whom showed up on any given night. We had a great time talking about books, eating desserts, and getting to know each other. My husband and I moved away from that neighborhood in 2017, but the book club is still going.
As a writer, I learned a lot from that book club. I remember one book we read–it was buy a Pulitzer prize winning author, so when we went around the circle and gave it a rating, I gave it four out of five stars. But then I listened to the others. One woman said the author spent too much time showing off all the research he’d done, and I thought, Yeah, she’s right. He did.
Another woman said the big dramatic moment near the ending was too coincidental; it felt contrived. And I thought, Yeah, it was.
Another woman said the characters weren’t very well developed, and I thought, That’s right, they weren’t.
And that night I learned a huge lesson–I should never be influenced by prizes or hype or “big names.” I should write for the women in my living room. They’re smart, and they’re the people who buy books.
So if you haven’t joined a book club, start one! It’s easy, and once it gets rolling, your members will invite other book lovers. As the moderator, I did two things that helped–first, I let each member give their opinion without feedback from anyone else, so everyone got to share their thoughts. After that, I found discussion questions online or used the “what to do when there’s no discussion guide available” list of questions (you can google it). The trick is not to let any one person, including yourself, dominate the conversation. At the end of each meeting, I asked the others for recommendations for our next book. We tried to get books no one had read (because the reading experience should be fresh for everyone), and yes, sometimes we picked some duds. But we still had fun discussing WHY they were duds. 🙂
Are you–or have you ever been–a member of a book club? What did you like about it? How could it have been improved?
I hope you will find a book club near you (some are online!) If you do, prepare to have your horizons expanded (you’ll be reading books that may not be your usual cup of tea), and enjoy!
~~Angie
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I love my Brit Lit book club. We are women at the library who grew up in, lived in, visit or just live anything British and it’s a wide variety of ages and experiences thus varied inputs. I also benefit from my daughter in her mid30s and her book club with working women just starting to have kids. They choose sharply intelligent books that both entertain and create escape but are a range of genres contemporary and historical. They have expanded my horizons.
A British Lit club? That would be fun. What a great idea!
Love this post, Angie! I was part of a bookclub our church in Hesston, KS started called Novel Chicks (I think I still have the T-shirt!) and I loved reading with those sisters in Christ SO much. We read only Christian novels (several from the writers of this blog!) The group is still reading and I miss being part of it!
Sounds like a great group, Deb. Not only did you bond over books, you already had that spiritual bond–what a great way to make friends. 🙂
My book club experience has been (1) via email close to 20 years ago and (2) more recently via Zoom. My church has a book club called Book Sniffers (founder loves the smell of books), but that group meets weekly and functions more like a Life/Small Group. Because of the two book clubs I’ve participated in, I’ve read some books I would never have read otherwise. Not Christian fiction but powerful novels that I have learned from. As a reader, my first choice is always Christian fiction and non-fiction, and that is the bulk of my reading. But as a writer, I need to read a wide selection of books because I am always learning, even from books with a different perspective. How can I possible reach those outside the faith if I don’t know how they think or perceive the world?
Amen, Robin. Jesus prayed, “I ask not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.” Book clubs are a great way to learn what others outside our experience are thinking, feeling, and doing.
I’m currently in my first book club ever–in my neighborhood. I’ve read some great books I wouldn’t otherwise have read. But I’ve also read some books I thought were terrible from a writing/storytelling perspective that all the others loved! That’s frustrating to me as a writer. Still, there is more good than bad and like you said, it’s more about the connection with the people in my neighborhood. Still, I was not sad last month when I realized I would be out of town for the meeting so I could skip the book–the ebook of the pick was nearly 15 dollars, ten years old, and had a 3 star rating! 😉
LOL! Yes, there’s no accounting for taste. I’ve adored books that others hated, and I’ve hated books that others adored. I was at a writer’s gig a few years back and had just read a much-lauded book that left me cold. A man stood up in the audience and told the author–“I just want to say–thank you for this book.” I wanted to ask him, “How did you keep from falling asleep?” LOL. We are all different, thank the Lord.
Loved this post, Angie, and saving it in my keeper file! 🙂
I’ve never been in a book club, but would love to join one (or start one!).
Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
I hope you find (or start) one! Check with churches and libraries for starters, or see if anyone in your neighborhood would like to join together. You’ll find that readers love to discuss what they’ve read, and nearly everything’s more fun if you do it with someone else!
I’ve never been in a book club except the groups I’m in online. I used to have so much fun discussing my books when my oldest daughter was still home. She read everything I bought before I had a chance. I was working full time and of course did for my family and she had more time. She would want to tell me about the books but I didn’t want to know to much because I liked to be surprised when I’m reading. Afterwards we could talk about it. She now has a busy mom life and she’s also homeschooling her 2 youngest so I have more time than she does now. I also have one friend that I used to work with and we still get together sometimes and we love talking books.
Sounds like you REALLY need a book club! 🙂