I am a fairly new member of a "Mom's Book Club". I have been participating with particular group since January. I have really really enjoyed being a part of this and so far liked all the books. In this particular club, we rotate who selects the book each month. And it turns out May is my month. I have agonized since a agreed to switch with one of the other members (she is going to be out of town for the May meeting), about what book to pick. My problem is that I DO NOT want to be the one who picks the stinker that everyone hates!!! What's more, we have read from a very wide variety of genres so far. So it is hard to say they all like mysteries and just pick one. So I took to surfing the net to try to find some help. I found a variety of resources and suggestions that I want to share with you guys.
- www.LitLover.com - this site is made specifically for book clubs. You can find title suggestion (complete with synopsis), discussion questions and a section titled "If you liked this..."
- A group of suggestions I found over and over:
- Pick a book you have already read: My one biggest aversion to this one, is that this means I either re-read it (hate doing that) or miss out on actually reading a book that month.
- Pick a book already on your TBR List - this one is really smart. If you already planned to read it, there must be a reason.
- Search for Author's similar to an author you have already read in the club (Borders and B&N both have this search feature)
- Ask another member of the club to go to the book store with you and browse around.
- Go to a favorite author's website and see what they are reading.
- Most larger book stores usually have a section just for book club suggestions. If you can't find it ask an associate for their suggestions.
- Most larger book stores have a section for Staff Picks. These can really open your eyes to some interesting titles. For example: A woman named Kristy (never actually meet her) at my local bookstore, makes the best selections and I have loved every title I have read from her selections.
The most important piece of advice I got was "Don't Fret if you pick a stinker" There are a few reasons not to let it get to you.
- If you have never read it how can you know it was going to be sucky
- Not everyone is going to like every book anyway
- The point of book club is to read titles that you might not have selected yourself.
So when your month to pick comes up in rotation, don't worry about it and just go with a book that looks good to you!
I love book clubs, though I sometimes don't like the typical book club books. Ones that we've done recently that I loved are The Help by Stockett, Not My Daughter by Delinsky, and House Rules by Piccoult. All good reads and great for discussion.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone knows that if the book selection was a stinker, well, that's just the way it goes sometimes! I really love the Busy Moms Book Club and I enjoyed the selection for the first month I participated--Love @ First Site. But I also agree with your comment about re-reading--I really hate to re-read books (unless it is years in between). The way I see it--there are too many great books out there to spend time reading something more than once!
ReplyDelete@Shell- I think I will put House Rules into the running for June's Busy Mom Book Club.
ReplyDelete@Julie - I totally agree about the re-reading, I have enough trouble getting through all the books in my TBR, there is not time for re-reads! And I am so glad that you enjoy the Busy Mom's Book Club, I am having a lot of fun with it!