Host an any book club

You can gather with other readers, even if you haven't all read the same book

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to host any book club instead of a
typical book club where you meet to discuss a book

(00:24):
that everyone has read. At any book club, people read
whatever book they want and then come together to share
their reflections. It can be a great way to spur
conversation and can make it a little easier for people
to participate. Today's tip comes from Seamichael Hammond's book meet

(00:47):
Me at the Library. He describes any book club at
a library in Memphis. People read a variety of books
about Memphis and then gathered to discuss them. I really
like this idea because it is far more personalized than
your average book club. If someone liked history, they could

(01:10):
read a history book about Memphis or different periods of
time in Memphis history. There's also fiction said in Memphis,
and that fiction covers a wide variety of genres. People
have written poetry in and about Memphis. I am guessing
there are narrative cookbooks featuring Memphis barbecue and other regional cuisine.

(01:32):
You read what you want and come in and share
what you loved. About the book you read. People will
get ideas for what they want to read in the future.
But I would go a step farther and say that
you do not actually need a theme for in any
book club. Indeed, if you are trying to have more

(01:53):
bookishness and friends in your life, it might be wise
not to have a theme. Instead, just ask people to
come to your any book club prepared to share a
little bit about any book they have read and enjoyed recently.
Why did they like it, what worked or perhaps what

(02:15):
didn't work within an overall good reading experience. What kind
of audience would most appreciate this book? Did the book
remind them of any other book? The beauty of any
book club is that each person gets to read whatever
they want. Sometimes people are reluctant to join a typically

(02:37):
structured book club because they only have so much time
for reading and they don't want to read books that
they don't think they will like. Now, I am well
aware that many people join book clubs and then don't
read the books that are chosen. But the any book
club does away with that awkward experience. People are going

(02:59):
to have read some book that they are then going
to talk about, perhaps others will have read it in
the past and then they can all connect then or afterwards.
Or perhaps others will read it in the future and
then they can connect about it afterwards too. You can
get the social aspect of gathering with other readers to

(03:20):
talk about books without the downside of policing who is
reading what. So if you're looking for more reading and
connection in your life, consider hosting any book club. And
if you do, I would love to hear about it.
You can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.

(03:40):
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or
feed you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam

(04:03):
dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For
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or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.