Home Books Barnes & Noble Recommends How to Run a Reading Group

Books

B&N Recommends

How to Run a Reading Group

A guide to starting your own group, choosing books, and keeping the conversation going

*Download the PDF

1. Getting Started
To form your own reading group, you don’t need a lot of people—three or four can be enough. A good way to begin is to invite a few friends who like to read to join you. If you’d like to reach outside your circle of acquaintance, try posting notices at your local library, community center, or on a college bulletin board.

Once you’ve recruited members, schedule an initial meeting to discuss logistics: where and how often you’ll meet, who’ll provide the snacks (an essential for many groups), and, of course, what you’ll read. Your first meeting also provides an opportunity to learn about each other’s tastes in books. You might have everyone name some favorite authors to help determine the best common ground.

Although sometimes the person who started the group assumes the role of coordinator and/or moderator, your group doesn’t have to have a leader. Many groups find that the best discussion leaders are members with a passion for a particular topic or author. Alternatively, you might appoint the most experienced reader to lead discussions—or simply rotate the job among all members. What works best will depend on your group. * 2. Choosing Books
While the most popular choices for reading groups are genre fiction and memoir, there are also groups that enjoy reading poetry, history, biography, and popular science. Many of our most successful groups focus on a particular genre, subject, literary era, or author. An ambitious reading project, for instance Shakespeare’s plays or Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, can be especially rewarding when shared with a group.

Setting some limits can make choosing each book easier. By narrowing the field, you also increase the chance for useful comparisons between the different works your group reads. If you've decided to focus on fiction, you might have everyone in the group choose one book related to a theme: love, war, religion, art, travel or family, for example. Or you might want to explore the literature of a particular culture or time period. Visit our Browse Books page to find books in your chosen genre, or books with similar themes. And decide how you're going to make the choice: A common approach is to have the group vote; other groups take turns. * 3. Talking About Books
If you have a small group, you may not need any formal rules for discussion. Bigger groups often find that a moderator can help keep the conversation moving. It can be helpful to have each member present a question, topic, or favorite passage for the group to discuss. At Barnes & Noble.com, you’ll find Reading Group Guides with suggested questions and discussion points for thousands of the most popular book club titles. There are as many ways to read as there are readers, but here are a few rewarding approaches groups can take when talking about a book:

As a work of literature. This type of discussion focuses on the author’s skill and the reader’s aesthetic or intellectual response to the book. Readers of fiction might ask: How does the narrative unfold? Is a compelling atmosphere created and sustained? How does the author’s style contribute to (or detract from) the impact of the book? If you’re reading nonfiction, you might ask whether the author’s argument is convincing, whether enough evidence is presented to support it, and whether the writing style helps make the subject matter accessible.

As a cultural artifact. Some readers are most interested in what a book reveals about the historical and cultural circumstances of its author. Seen this way, a book can serve as a springboard for a discussion of social issues: you might discuss racism and injustice in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man; women's roles in Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth; the Holocaust in Elie Wiesel's Night. If you're reading contemporary works, you'll find they often have some resonance with current events, politics and issues in the news. If you’re reading contemporary works, you’ll find they often have some resonance with current events and politics.

As a story with a point of view. Most readers look for reflections of their own experiences and beliefs in literature, and passionate book discussions can center on readers’ agreement or disagreement with the author’s point of view. To spark such a discussion, you might begin by asking what the book says about human nature. How does it portray justice, compassion, courage, or wisdom? What actions does the author seem to condemn or approve? When group members share what moved, captivated, or infuriated them, the conversation can quickly turn into an intense exchange about life and death, God and nature, society and the self.

Any or all of these approaches can be used in each group meeting. However you proceed, your discussion will inevitably contain elements of individual experience and taste. It’s not necessary that your group come to a consensus. Indeed, differences of opinion—shared in a civil manner and without insult—can enliven the discussion. During the meeting, have someone keep an eye on the clock to make sure everyone gets a turn—and reserve some time at the end for open discussion, since new ideas often bubble up during the meeting.

One last note: don’t worry if your discussions occasionally—or even frequently—stray. The important thing is to have fun.