After a few weeks, months, or years, you may find that your book club has become a bit stagnant. It’s not necessarily anything you’re doing wrong, or even about the members that attend your club. Sometimes, it’s just a good idea to try something different. By mixing it up, your book club will be more vibrant and entertaining.
Here are a few ideas…
- Location: Particularly if you’ve hosted most of your meetings at one location, try a new place! For instance, if you’ve hosted it at the library before, invite the book-club members to your house, or another meeting place. Don’t be afraid to get a little creative with your book club location.
- Performance: It may have been a while since you’ve “acted-out” a scene in a book or play, but it’s a fun way to liven up a book club. You can ask each member of the club to pick a scene to read (or act out). If the membership really loves performance, you can become more elaborate (with costumes, etc.). If plays or book scenes don’t appeal to you (or the other book-club members), you may want to just do short reading, or find other ways to enjoy the book.
- Adaptation: For your next book-club selection, pick a book that’s been made into a movie, play or other form of adaptation. Then, meet the other members of the club at the movie theater, at a home, or at a library (preferably a location that offers multimedia support for your viewing experience. Be sure to set aside enough time to discuss the adaptation–what you all loved (or hated?), etc.
- Author Appearance: We often think of authors as god-like persons–untouchable. But, you may find that there are authors in your community who’d love to participate in your book-club meetings. You can ask him/her to do a reading from one of their books. Or, depending on how approachable you find the person, you might even ask him/her to attend a meeting–to answer questions about their book that you’ve just read. If you’re not able to find someone in your local area (or a visiting author) who will speak (or answer questions) at your meeting, piggyback on a scheduled reading in your area–you can attend as a group, and then plan to meet after the reading.
- Guest Speaker: You’ll find that there are many great guest speakers available, particularly if you don’t limit your search to only published authors. Is there a dynamic local teacher, who is willing to share his/her passion for books and literature? Or, find a librarian, who’s willing to speak with you all about his/her adventures with books. There are any number of reasons a speaker is an ideal choice for your book club. You could even select a guest speaker based on their personal experience. (For example: If you’re reading about the American West, ask a historian to speak.)
If your book club has become a bit boring, or even stagnant, don’t despair. As long as we share a passion for books, there will always be creative ways to imagine/re-imagine our literary experience.
