I love book clubs. A venue whose entire reason for existence is to sit around and discuss a book that everyone in the group has read. Sign. Me. Up. Bonus points if snacks are provided and please be prepared to have to ask me to leave your house if there is wine provided. Now the book club model is pretty simple and something that doesn't require a whole lot of explanation. I, however, do love to complicate things and dream of themed book clubs. Here are some of them:
1. A Non-Book Discussion Book Club: This is weird one and honestly, I'm not even sure I would be able to figure out how to make it work in a sustainable way. The basic idea is that everyone reads the same book, but instead of talking about the book: characters, writing style, story, etc. and, they can talk about things that might be related to the book. For instance, if the book was The Paris Wife, you can talk about high school and college romances featuring horrible partners that were endless fascinating at 16 and now sort of make you want to smack your younger self.
2. A Young Adult Book Club for Adults: I have previously said that I love me some young adult literature. I have also very lightly touched on the fact that it is, at times, not as highly respected as I feel it should be. I feel like a book club for adults would give adults a venue to seriously discuss pieces of literature that are ignored as 'literature' simply because their genre contains the word 'young'. Despite the word 'young' these are works with incredible depth and emotional range, with a focus on a time in life that most people remember as transformative and meaningful, whether they were great or sort of miserable. Discussing these titles from a perspective of adult experience inspires a completely different discussion of what the story means than it may from the perspective of a teenager. I think teens should absolutely have their own book clubs as well, but I think adults who enjoy the young adult genre should also be have an opportunity to discuss their reactions.
3. A Wine Tasting Book Club: Enough said. If this requires explanation, either for format or why it would be amazing, I have to doubt your creativity, commitment to being awesome, and general intelligence.
4. A Read Anything Book Club: This is my dream. No really. DREAM. Basically, it's an opportunity to hang out and discuss what you've read lately. I particularly like this idea, especially for a library setting, as it would not require any type of preparation on the part of patrons, which I think would be an attraction for people who think they're too busy to commit to a book club (a claim I take issue with and will no doubt address at some point). I also love this idea as it would work for any age group and could be formalized and made more relaxed as would work in your library. For example, in a book club for children the theme could be siblings, and all kids had to do was find a book whose main character had a sibling. This would allow children to become comfortable talking about books and stories, something I think that increases pleasure in reading, as well give then an opportunity to find something new to read from their peers.
I myself am part of two book clubs currently and could definitely see myself joining more in the future.
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