Organizing a Reading Group

Reading groups are an enjoyable way to bring like-minded people together to discuss new ideas, insights, and inspiration through the books the members read together. Sucessful reading groups need a place to meet, a method for choosing books, and basic rules for discussing them. Use the guidelines below to organize a reading group in your area. Reading groups are a popular way to share individual insights and delight with friends and associates. The term "reading group" is commonly used to describe a variety of group styles. Groups can be small and informal, such as a few friends gathering together irregularly, or large and formal, such as a regularly scheduled seminar or lecture series. The common factor among all these groups is each participant's love of reading. There are quite literally tens of thousands of reading groups across the nation. It's not unusual to find a reading group in your area.

• Friends & co-workers: Most reading groups do not advertise or register with the websites introduced below. They are discovered by word-of-mouth. Your friends, family, or co-workers may already know of or attend a reading group that will interest you.
• Bookstores: Many bookstores serve reading groups in their area and may provide bulk-order discounts for them. Larger bookstores have a customer service representative who manages the groups' needs.
• Libraries: Your local library may know about local reading groups — some may even host discussion groups. If the library's notice board doesn't have any group listings, talk to your librarian.
• Online Resources: There are a variety of websites that help new and established reading groups. Here are some of the most popular.
  • Reading Group Guides
  • Reading Group Choices
  • Reader's Circle
  • The Book Group Expo
  • The Association of Book Group Readers and Leaders. For mor information contact Rachel Jacobsohn.

You'll be surprised how many people want to join a reading group. Before starting your group, write down some basic guidelines.

• What are the interests (book genres) you want to pursue? Successful groups combine people with similar interests yet dissimilar backgrounds. If everyone has the same opinion, there won't be a meaningful discussion. For this reason, you might want to consider the number of close friends you wish to include. If everyone in the group can easily predict the responses of everyone else, the discussion will be short.

  Be sure to tell people what kind of books you want to read. Most people read a variety of books, but few romance readers will enjoy current politics, and vice versa.

• What kind of group do you want? Any group of people will experience drop-outs, occasional no-shows, shy people who rarely talk, and gregarious people who can't stop talking. The kind of group you create will dictate how all these people and circustances are handled.
  • Informal groups tend to one of two organizational models: focused leadership and shared leadership. Focused leadership means one person is responsible for managing the group and its discussions. This is often the group's founder. Shared leadership means group members take turns hosting and moderating the discussion. Informal groups are usually small (8–12 people) and are often hosted at group member homes.
  • Formal groups often require more organizational effort than informal groups. These groups often have newsletters and publicize their discussions. They combine lecture with discussion, giving people a chance to participate but with close moderation. These groups are often larger than informal groups, hosting 20–30 people. Formal groups are usually hosted by bookstores or libraries.
  • Academic or literary groups are usually the largest of the three groups. They are regularly hosted by libraries, large bookstores, or colleges. They are primarily a lecture formal, allowing for little or no member participation. These groups often depend on regular publicity.
• How large will your group become? Your group should be as large as your venue (home, bookstore, library, college) and time (management, publicity) will allow. You may wish to start with a small informal group (6–8 people) so that the discussions are interesting but the organizational effort is minimal.
• Where will your group meet? Most reading groups meet in a member's home, but there are a large number of choices depending on the ambiance of your group. Bookstores, libraries, and colleges have already been mentioned, but you might also want to consider a local cafe or restaraunt (which certainly won't mind the extra business and publicity). other choices include civic centers or community halls, community group halls such as the Elks, Rotary, VFW posts, etc. You might also consider your local schools and churches. Each venue will affect the size, composition, and attitude of your group.

Your first meeting is especially important. Group members might be meeting for the first time. Everyone will know that they are a group, meaning there should be rules and order, but none of that has been established yet. Reading groups are an opportunity to learn and grow in a manner akin to the popular philisophical duscussions found in ancient Greece — but they can quickly devolve into idle gossip without order. Here is a partial list of items you might want to consider for your first meeting.

• Organization: Groups need to keep in contact with each other, which means keeping phone and email lists. Everyone should have access to the contact list, but someone should be in charge of maintaining it. This same person should greet and introduce new group members, and purge the list of people who will no longer attend.
• Moderation: Each discussion should have a moderator whose job it is to keep the discussion on track and on time. Small informal groups often meet in member homes, so it's common that the host or hostess for a particular meeting will also serve as moderator. Moderators set the tone of the discussion by introducing new topics of discussion (especially if a discussion dies without leading into a new topic).
• Schedules: Determining when and how frequently a group meets is very important. Many groups meet monthly, which fits most participants' schedules. Remember that everyone needs time to read the book. Depending on how books are scheduled, they might need time to obtain the book.
• Socializing: Groups of people almost always need a chance to reacquaint themselves with each other before a meeting starts, and a chance to unwind once the meeting is through. Providing time for these activities is important. Monitor social time closely, though, or it can take all of your discussion time. Refreshments are also a good way to provide for social time and help the group feel more comfortable during the discussion.
• Book Selection: Selecting your books will be an exciting experience, especially the first book. Remember to give everyone a chance to talk about the choice. Larger groups will not completely agree on a single book, so a voting process may need to be developed. You may want to consider an easily obtained book for your first selection to be sure everyone has time to read the book. During the course of reading and discussing your first few books, pay attention to the time required to obtain, read, and discuss a book. You may find that you need to select a book two months in advance so that people have a month to get it, and another month to read it.

Leading or moderating a discussion is usually little more than giving everyone a chance to speak and providing topics to consider if the discussion slows down. Remember, the focus of your group is to give everyone a chance to enjoy their love for books, not simply to get through a list of questions. Some meetings will need every topic to keep everyone interested, others will only need one or two to get the discussion going and it will take on a life of its own.

The simplest way to prepare for a discussion is to use reading group guides like those found on this website or on the other sites mentioned earlier. However, you can create your own. The selected moderator for a book should keep notes as he or she reads. For example:

• What was the story about?
• What plot twists or story developments surprised the readers?
• What is the authors message? How well was it delivered?
• Who were the main characters? How did they interact? Did they change over the course of the book?
• What was the reader's perception of the book's presentation? How did the author express his or her message? Was the use of language appropriate for the book?
• Does the book, its message, the characters, or storyline have relevance to your own experience?

Remember to include page numbers with your notes as it it common to re-read a passage from the book before discussing a topic. Try to avoid questions that are simply answered "yes" or "no." Ask participants to explain themselves or expand on their ideas. If you note an interesting aspect of a participant's comments, point it out and ask for elaboration.

Watch for people who are having trouble getting a word in edgewise. Discussions can get fast-paced and some people have trouble interrupting with an idea or observation. Moderators are responsible for giving everyone a chance to participate.

Discussions are a form of debate. It's good to have different point of view, but watch closely for discussions that become too heated or start to tread on personal opinions. With rare exception, there will not be a right or wrong comment, interpretation, or observation.

Finally, moderators should be prepared to take feedback from the group members. Over time, moderators will receive a variety of negative and positive feedback. Managing a group of people is often compared to herding cats — it can be a difficult process. Work to improve your moderating skills so you can enjoy your participation with the group and ensure everyone else enjoys their participation, too.

Selecting a new book can be exciting, but selecting a book previously unread by the group often means the book is unknown by the group. Group leaders should discuss with the group how to nominate new books. Groups will often need help finding books to consider. Leaders can take advantage of bookstores, libraries, and publishers, who often publish lists of books for consideration. Local newspapers will sometimes publish lists of books, or leaders can access large national newspapers (such as the New York Times or USA Today) to consider the lists they publish. Leaders should regularly update their lists of books to take into account new releases.

Remember to ask your local bookstore for volume discounts. Most bookstores appreciate reader groups for both the volume and frequency of book purchases they represent. If buying books online from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or direct from the publisher, remember to buy them far enough in advance that they can be distributed to the group in a timely manner.

Use the following list of resources to help you organize and manage your reading group.

• Do-It-Yourself Reading Guides
• Books on Organizing Groups:
  • The Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick.
  • The Mother-Daughter Book Club: How Ten Busy Mothers and Daughters Came Together to Talk, Laugh, and Learn Through Their Love of Reading by Shireen Dodson.
  • The Reading Group Handbook by Rachel Jacobsohn
  • The Reading Group Book by David Laskin and Holly Hughes
  • Recipe for a Book Club by Mary O'Hare and Rose Storey

Above all, enjoy your participation in the reading group! Reading groups are a wonderful way to meet new people and learn new points of view.