Would you share some suggestions for promoting discussion at Book Clubs?
Would you share some suggestions for promoting discussion at Book Clubs?
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Would you share some suggestions for promoting discussion at Book Clubs?
Our book club trades off who is leading the discussion, which helps—then everyone has a stake in the conversation.
yes we do that too and it’s my turn to lead discussion – I was looking for a creative idea someone has used or experienced
Oh, I get it now 😉
When I lead, I find it fruitful to talk about themes—great thoughts and discussion emerges as we find mutual themes across what we’re reading.
One of my book club friends—a latin teacher—loves to get discussion generated about words and creative meanings. Just some ideas.
You can frequently find good onlineBook Discussion questions – google the title & “Book Discussion” or “Discussion questions”
Finding the authors bio and history helps the group get a different, maybe deeper perspective of the book.
Don’t talk, just read!
My club tried taking turns picking a discussion question out of a bowl. Not a bad idea but I did wonder if the leader had actually read the book. Whether I’m the discussion leader or not I will often sense a moment in our chatting and say “this is a nice segue to talk about the book…” Some groups allow a specified time for general conversation, followed by time for book discussion. Group dynamics seem to determine how much structure is needed.
Check this out! https://www.amazon.com/TableTopics-TABLETOPICS-Book-Club/dp/B01M4NYEG9
we start with a show of hands for who enjoyed the book vs not and ask for examples of why from each group. things evolve from there but we use discussion questions from the web to bolster the conversation if needed.
“Why?” is always a good question to ask about the author—“Why this point of view? Why this odd passage here? Why choose this meal or this vacation spot or this disease?” Everything is something the author chose.
Refer back to some other book the group has read—similarities and differences.
Do research online. Many books which are popular in book clubs have questions online.
It depends who your participants are. I go to two groups, in one everyone participates and in the other they sit like bumps on a log???
I especially love it when bookclubs have a leader for each book. This person is responsible for preparing a formal or informal presentation. For example, if the book is set in Chicago, then the leader will tell the group pertinent facts about Chicago which pertain to the book. This might include historical information, geographical information – anything that it not overly well known, and then begin the discussion. I really don’t see the point of free form book clubs, I can do that on my own. I really DO appreciate background information about the location, the social situation, anecdotes, “things we always thought were true but aren’t,” and so forth. It brings the book to life.
I once was tremendously fortunate to belong to a public library book club which met once per month, and the person leading each book was a University Professor who had devoted his or her career to either the book in question, or the time period in question. Wowza.
that would be amazing!
I like an ice breaker unrelated to the book. Everyone gets a shot at sharing (we usually go around the circle). Some examples: share an all time favorite book title and briefly why, name one character from a book you would like to be, a character you would like to have a romance with, a book you have always wanted to read but haven’t yet, etc. It gets us warmed up. Sometimes the ice breaker can relate to the book. We just discussed Nine Women, One Dress and we started out by having everyone share a memory of a favorite dress or article of clothing that made them feel special when they wore it.
Prepared questions. Like they have at the back of some books, specifically put there for book clubs. When I worked at Borders, we would get promotional materials on new books that included lists of questions for discussion.
Peg, which Borders did you work at? I used to work at Borders too – I was a full-time Supervisor in Rockville, MD (DC suburb); a part-time bookseller in Chestnut Hill, PA (near Philly) & later in the Twin Cities. I still miss Borders!
@Katy I worked at the store in York. I was by far the oldest person there, but we had a good team and I enjoyed it.