Book clubs

I've never really been in a formal book club. I did try an online book group once but it felt very disjointed and not particularly interesting. It basically entailed a lot of people saying they liked or didn't like a book/character/plot. While I was a library science student, I learned a little about book clubs and why many of them fail. I understand now that most successful book clubs have a good facilitator and guidelines for the group; open-ended questions are what prompt the group to keep digging into the book and help the discussion thrive. In the future, these are things I'll bear in mind should I decide to join or start a book group.

But here's another approach. Some of my girlfriends and I formed a loose kind of book group and it was a lot of fun. We read and discussed a few books like The Lovely Bones and The Poisonwood Bible. We'd often share a meal while discussing the books, making the whole "meeting" even more convivial. I've even heard of book groups that incorporate foods from the books they're reading (perhaps more work than it's worth, but it could be fun!). However, our little book group faced it's own challenges since it was hard to keep everyone motivated to read the same book and naturally life would conspire to keep everyone from reading regularly. Still, it was fun while it lasted and I miss it. Now I find this. If you can put aside the commercial promotion aspect of this web series, this is the kind of book club I'd like to be join! Not only does this kind of club have good books and fun friends, but it's an mini- escape from those we love. Enough time away to appreciate going back to them and to reconnect with our inner selves. How refreshing!