As a few of you know, Tuesday, August 12 (6:30 pm) (at Bryant Target-in Starbucks) will be our first "Book Club" meeting. This is something that I've wanted to do for a very long time and upon talking with some great friends I found this was a huge want in many of our lives. I was shocked at the desire that many of you have and look forward to learning about you all, what you like to read and becoming great friends. Reading is something that takes us away from so much that we are dealing with on a daily basis. For what time we are involved in our book we are transported to places we could never visit and are allowed to live a thousand different lives just by turning a page.
What type of book club will we be?
Our group will be a "social and mostly-about-the-book" book club. In order for us to be able to openly share our thoughts with what we read we will need to get to know each other, so it's important to have a few minuets to chit-chat. This is something that I want you to be so excited about that you can't wait until our next meeting. A time just for you! If you're a mom, wife and having a stressed out day, I want you to be able to say "I can't wait until book club tonight!" Once we have a little meet and greet time we will turn our focus on the book.
Who can come?
We will start out with an open group. Meaning that anyone and everyone will be invited. The Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SalineReads?ref_type=bookmark will be public for the time being and anything shared on there will be seen by all, at first. However, when we get the group more established and we know who all is coming we will close it to members only. This is due to the simple safety reasons and not having our exact locations, time we will be somewhere & what time we are leaving. (If you didn't know I'm paranoid like that!) Even if you have not read the book, still come! There will always be something that you can contribute to the group and you will need to know what our next book is. If you didn't read due to not liking the book, this is something that could be beneficial to discuss. So, yeah...still come!
And....males are welcomed! I think it would be wonderful to have some male insight to some of our "beloved books". So don't let that stop you from coming, guys! It won't be all "Chick-Lit".
Who will lead the group each week?
Each month we will have a point person who will lead. This is because no one wants to have me talk the whole time and I don't want to talk the whole time! This point person will kick off the meeting with the open-ended question of: (drumroll...) "What did you think of the book?" That way each member knows that that question will be asked and you'll be prepared to jump out there and share your answer, right? This person will also come up with questions that will help us take apart what we are reading and be our front runner for the discussion. If you are not comfortable leading-do not feel like you have too! This does not need to be a reason to keep you from coming. Inbox me and say...don't ever make me lead and I'll make sure that you will not have to.
What are we going to read?
Ahh, the infamous question! Let's just go ahead and say not everyone is going to like the same book all at once. We will win some and lose some. It's going to be important to have you all share your likes and dislikes on books. How we pick our book will be based on personal recommendation mixed in with a reading list from GoodReads.com. This way we will have personal favorites and get to pick up some classics along the way. Our first book I will pick out (watch for the title posting) and have this book for our meeting Tuesday. Just FYI: It will be a book that will be carried at Target or Hastings so you can pick it up and start right away. If you know someone who would like to come but is unable to because of the cost of a book-get with me on that and we will get them a book!
What do I need to have with me on Tuesday?
There are a few things I'd like you to have for the meeting Tuesday night:
1. The name of your favorite book and why you like it so much.
For getting to know you purposes.
2. The name of at least two books that you think our group would like to read.
We will put these names in a bowl that is mixed with a popular reading list and I will draw out the title of our next book at random. That way it will always be a surprise and something to look forward to. However, if it's a Holiday (and we have a lot of them coming up) let's try to stick to seasonal books to keep us in the holiday spirit.)
3. Where you would like to meet?
Home Meetings-If this is something you would like to do we would NEVER put home addresses online and the open group would become a closed group where only those who were to come to a meeting would be able to have access to this information. I would probably go as far as to say we shouldn't put the address online at all and can do that via text. Strictly for safety reasons.
Restaurants-I've heard it is really difficult to hold meetings in restaurants but we could make a few exceptions and meet at one for a December meeting or special occasions.
Coffee Shop-I particularly love this idea simply because there is coffee involved and we can get snacks! Coffee and muffins are always nice.
4. What & why you have decided to come?
This will be different for all of us I think. Maybe some of you have chosen to come because you just want something to do or maybe you're like me and want to discover new books with a group of people!
5. What is a tradition recommendation?
Upon doing research on "how to start a book club" one thing was common...traditions. From writing down something funny that happened in a journal every meeting to trips to movie night! I recommend a camping trip ( in October, close to Halloween and we can read creepy book that month) and a movie night, where we meet at someones house, watch a movie of the book we had just read and compare the book to movie.
Can't wait to see you all next Tuesday!
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