Starting Your Own Book Club

About three years ago, I was searching for something. I was in my late twenties and starting to shy away from the bar scene but wanting a social outing that got friends together for a fun night out. It’s interesting how we grow, we change as people, our outlook on how we spend our time changes. Also, as you get older, life tends to get more complicated and you sometimes fall short of making time for your friends. The whole “Let’s go get tipsy at happy hour and sit at a bar” thing was getting old, and I found myself wanting to create a new chapter in my life — BOOK CLUB.

My idea of an ideal happy hour after work, cocktail on the front porch with a good book.

Over the years, some of us have had babies. Our lives have been continuing to change, but we still come together every month to catch up, and if we have time, discuss the book. My husband jokes all the time and puts book club in air quotes whenever he says “Kelsey has ‘book club’…”. But we always do talk about the book, sometimes life just takes over and we get a little sidetracked getting all caught up.

For one of our meetings, we met at a friend’s jewelry store where we sipped wine and ate catered food, and tried on expensive jewelry. Our two queens of the evening. A girl’s dream.

So now let’s talk about setting up a book club. We have done a mix of things over the years but this is our main groove. We meet at a new restaurant each month, and we make our list for the year so it gives everyone time to plan ahead and make sure they have the book for each month and time to read it. A lot of us utilize the library. I’m a big believer in taking advantage of your local library – IT’S FREE PEOPLE. Plus most librairies now even have online resources (eBooks and audiobooks, still free) that you can check out right from your phone. There can still be waitlists so that’s why we make our book list for the year so everyone can plan accordingly.

A night where childcare didn’t go as planned but we still had a blast!

How did I get friends to join? My girlfriends joke that I’m the glue of book club. I will say I did get book club started, but it has molded into something beyond me. Everyone now knows everyone, friends have invited some of their friends so I have met some new people. Some friends have moved away, some have taken a break with a newborn at home… book club is constantly evolving and the the door is always open where we welcome new book lovers with open arms. Simply put, I asked friends if they’d be interested, and I got an overwhelming positive response and book club was born.

So now you might be wondering, how do we make our book list for the year? Getting started our first year, since I was the one getting the ball rolling, I made a list crosschecking Amazon Bestsellers and NYT Bestsellers, picked books from all genres so there would be something for everyone, then put that final list to a vote. I made a list of about 20 books, with a short description, then made a poll where everyone voted and we got our final list of 12. I also offered to add any suggestions to the list if there was a book that someone was interested in reading.

Because we’re adults, and some of us have kids… book club is sometimes a little crazy. Childcare falls through… and the kids come! Over Christmas I hosted at my home and made a big lasagna and everyone brought a bottle of wine. When the weather warms up we plan on doing a BYOB picnic at a local park. Book club looks however you want it to look!

I thought it would be fun to add our current list of books. A friend of mine that I use to teach with actually sent me a message not too long ago saying that she really wanted to join book club, but she lives in another town about 45 minutes away. She has two kids and logistically could never make it work. She asked if she could have our list for this year and she was going to start her own book club where she lived – this made my heart so happy.

Our current 2019-2020 Book Club List (Link will take you to Amazon where you can read the synopsis and reviews)

Feel free to use our list. To be honest, this year we tried to mix some older books (not brand new releases) to our list because the brand new ones are hard to check out at the library. Just something to think about. Also, if they are brand new, you might have to buy them in hardback which ups the cost a bit.

Are you in a book club? Have you wanted to join one or maybe been thinking about starting one? DO IT! One of the best things I’ve done, serouisly. Have a great group of women that I look forward to seeing every month. Leave me a comment if decide to start one up and use our list, would love to know what you all think of our book picks! Tag me on Instagram @homewithedith

Happy Reading Friends!

At-A-Glance 2019-2020 Book Club Books

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