Monday, June 8, 2009

Book Club Guidelines

Some good advise is that you should set rules for your book club at the very beginning. We didn't do that, but, we're not much for rules. But, we did settle on the following guidelines:

  • Membership is currently closed. Sorry, teeming throngs, but, at around 8-10ish folks, our book club is just right. We're afraid any more will stretch our living rooms and our conversation too much. If we loose a member, we'll talk about adding a new one.

  • Guests. Guests are allowed if the guest-bringer has the permission of the host. The guest-bringer has the responsibility of telling the guest that they are not, in fact, a member.

  • Hosting. Hosting is not required by members, but, anyone is welcome to host.

  • Choosing Books. Books are suggested by members and then agreed upon in a consensus. We don't have a real method for this, but all members are welcome to suggest books.

  • Reading the Book. Obviously reading the book is a prerequisite for attending. If you haven't finished the last chapter because you ran out of time, that's ok - but, the purpose is to read and discuss the book of the month.

We can always revisit these if anyone wants to! Thanks, everyone!

For your amusement, I include these other uptight book club rules:
Book Club Rules and Standards (When you speak, please state your name.)
The Reading Club (show zero tolerance for inappropriate behaviour)
Barely Literate Book Club (Spouses and significant others who are not book club members may sit quietly in the back)

3 comments:

Barely Literate said...

I'm the organizer for the Barely Literate Book Club. How cool to found our "rule" about spouses and significant others sitting in the back on your website. But when you have 22 members like we do, there's really no place else to put the "visitors" and keep them from visiting with each other and talking over the discussion. So, are guests at your book club meetings allowed to join the discussion? Just curious...

Special K said...

Hi there! Oops - didn't expect you to stumble upon us. Now am slightly embarrassed...

We just don't have guests at book club, but they're welcome to join us after we're done talking about the book.

Wow, that's a big group! Happy reading!

Sharein Dickens said...

Hi, I'm getting ready to start a Book Club for my local area on the 31st of this month. And your book club guidelines are PERFECT for what i was looking for :) Thanks so much! Is there any other suggestions you might have for someone who is new to starting a book club? Thanks again!