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6 Things I’ve Learnt from Three Years of Running a Book Club

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When I started my book club back in the summer of 2021, I didn’t have many expectations. I wanted something that would motivate me to read more books, whilst forcing me out of my comfort zones to meet people. In all honesty, I didn’t expect anyone to turn up that first week, nor the second. And, yes there have been weeks where it has been just me and one other person, however our WhatsApp group now has 30 members in it and for me, that is a big achievement.

So, here are…

6 Things I’ve Learnt from Three Years of Running a Book Club:

It takes time to build a book club

I think it took around 18 months, before we started seeing real numbers; averaging around 5 members until early 2023, when we tipped closer to 20 and were forced to change our venue as we out grew our first one. It really took me by surprise how many people were interested in my book club, and it still blows my mind that so many people have chosen to join, which leads me to my next lesson…

Numbers will constantly rise and fall…

Throughout 2023, our number remained fairly consistent. However, people have come along and stayed, eventually dipping out because, well, life happens. Some people reappear a few months later, whilst others disappear off the face of the planet. Some continue to read along, without being able to commit to meetings because of work or life, whilst others just fade into the background. Some choose to leave the group chat with no further communication, whilst others will just join in with the online chat, and that’s okay. If we help people to read, even for a little while, then I am happy. Circumstances change and move on.

Some months we will have five or six people, and others we will have 15 people.

People won’t always commit

We’ve had a number of people who have got in touch, joined the WhatsApp group, joined in the conversation and then never made it to a meeting, for a number of personal reasons. Some will drift in and out of conversation, whilst others will choose to leave eventually, and that’s okay too.

We won’t always finish the book

There seems to be this misconception that you have to finish the book to come to a book club, but sometimes I think there is just as big a conversation around why you couldn’t finish a book, as there is to finishing one. Sometimes books are just hard-going, they don’t appeal to us, they don’t interest us and that’s okay. Other months, we might not have had time due to busy schedules.

At our book group, we do strive to challenge each other by choosing books that we might not have otherwise picked up and read, however, we are all human and we all have our limitations, and that is also okay.

You never know what you’re going to read

Following on from our previous point about challenging ourselves, I always find it exciting that I never know what we’re going to read.

The way we work at our book club, is that each month everyone is given the opportunity to nominate any book, of any genre of their choosing and then all the options are put to a vote. I don’t restrict the vote to one each, unless we have a tie-breaker, which we have only had to do once!

Even when we’re voting, there have been several times when I’ve been convinced by the voting that we’ll be reading a specific book and then I’ll look again, later that day to see that everything has completely switched around. So you really do never know what you’re going to read.

There have even been occasions where we’ve picked a book that I was convinced I was going to hate, but I’ve ended up really enjoying it.

It’s okay to be quiet

I think a lot of people worry about joining a book club, if they are not the chattiest of people naturally. However, we never push anyone to contribute unless they want to, and most of the time everyone is given an opportunity to share any thoughts they feel comfortable to. Some people talk a lot more than others, and there will never be any pressure on anyone.

Book of the Year 2022

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