Starting a Reading Group
Being part of a reading or book group is a popular pastime and
there are certainly a number of active groups in this area. A
reading group can be as simple as a few friends meeting informally
to chat about a chosen book or it can be a larger, more structured
group who decide to have more formal meetings and specify a subject
or membership criteria. There is lots of useful information
available to help anyone who would like to try starting a reading
group in their own area - have a look at the external website links
on the right hand side of this page.
Structure of the group
The reading group can have as few as 4 or 5 members, but no more
that 10. Existing book groups have found that things become
unmanageable with a larger group. The meetings can take place
in a variety of locations, depending on size and make-up of the
group. A small group of friends may decide to take it in
turns to host the meeting in their own home, whereas a group of
people who don't know each other very well may want to meet on
neutral territory, such as a village or church hall, or even the
local library if there is available space.
Once the venue has been decided, you need to decide when and how
often the group should meet. The frequency of meetings can be
anything from once a month to once every three months - depending
on how quickly the group read! Everyone in the group should
be happy with the agreed date and time.
Choosing what to read & talk about
There are so many possibilities open to you that hopefully this
will be part of the enjoyment of the group. You can select
rotating genres, e.g. crime, romance, autobiography, humour; agree
on a specific genre but different authors for comparison; stick
with the same author; rotate suggestions among the group; debate
what to read; use the Sunday supplements as a prod; you could even
ask your local library staff for recommendations!
Having agreed on a book, the group then reads it and meets to
discuss it. Reading groups and their members will vary - some
will want to look for hidden meanings and carry out a thorough
literary criticism, while others will prefer to say whether they
enjoyed the book (or not) and say why.
At the meeting, group members will talk about things like the way
the book made them feel or which characters they liked and didn't
like; there may be some discussion about the themes in the book and
which sections were the most powerful; did the story end well and
did the group like the ending; was the book far-fetched or
does it relate to real life? The author may also be a
topic for discussion, e.g. the way that he or she writes or how the
selected book compares with others they have written.
Hopefully opinions will differ and this will lead to interesting
and constructive discussion, with a few laughs too!
Getting started
Once you have decided to start a reading group and are looking for
members, there are several things you can try.
- Let your
local library know - if space allows, they can display a
poster
- Speak to your local paper about the possibility of having a
paragraph with details of the group and inviting anyone interested
to contact you.
- Contact other local groups who may be able to help out by
spreading word of the reading group.
If you don't get a response from these suggestions, contact the
A K Bell Library in Perth where staff may be able to offer
further ideas.
The library service have a collection of books (pdf:
181kb) exclusively for reading groups to borrow. In
order to use this service, the group must register with the library
service and provide the following details.
- Name of the book group
- Name of main contact(s)
- Address of main contact
- Telephone number
- Email address
This information should be given to the contact for book groups
in the A K Bell Library by emailing library@pkc.gov.uk
