Hello,

We are going to set up a Book Club and would like to buy our own books, would appreciate any advice where book club sets could be bought at a good price.

Also any other tips on how to make our book club a success.

Many thanks,

J. Haire

Hi and welcome to the forums. I'm afraid I've no idea where you can buy discounted sets of books for your group - in my reading group we all buy/borrow our own individual copies, and to be honest by far the cheapest option is to buy copies from Amazon Marketplace (or swap for copies on here!).  However, it might be worth asking in your local library as some are willing and able to source multiple copies of books especially for book groups. Also, if you're not already a reader of newbooks magazine, check out their website here, as they do a starter pack for reading groups and have reviews written specifically with reading groups in mind - ie how much discussion the books might generate.

Other than that, the bits of advice I would offer are: decide among your members from the outset whether there are any genres people would really rather not read, so you can agree to exclude those; decide how you're going to choose the book each month - in our group we used to do it "by committee" but found that the views of the more vocal members tended to drown out the quieter ones, so now we take it strictly in turns to choose a book so everyone gets a chance. Equally, it's important at the discussions to make sure that everyone feels their views are just as valid as everyone else's and that all members get chance to voice their opinions.  Other than that, I'm sure you'll quickly find a format that suits your group best and I wish you lots of fun meetings and good books!

Hi,

Thanks so much for advice, will let you know how we get on,  Asking friends at the moment if they would be interested in joining and if they have people they know that might be interested.

My local library has sets of books that they loan out to reading groups, might be worth seeing if a library near you offers this. 

vickyc:

My local library has sets of books that they loan out to reading groups, might be worth seeing if a library near you offers this. 

Our central library issues a list of reading group sets and at our local library, the librarians are most helpful trawling all the 'locals' for requested books to get enough for our group.

You could also join The Reading Agency (www.readinggroups.org ) where you can win sets of books to review. We have had some excellent titles from them this year, including Lake of Dreams...Kim Edwards, Heft....Liz Moore and our latest, a bound uncorrected proof copy of A Humble Companion by Laurie Graham (best known to me for The Future Homemakers of America)

Hope this helps and all best wishes for a successful group. x

I should have added that they are yours to keep having reviewed them. As we meet in our library any that are not wanted as 'keepers/swappers/loaners' we donate to the library stock.

Thank you for the help

Thank you for this info, having trouble getting members at the moment.  I think they are all  watching Wimbledon,

Thanks for this info, struggling to get the members at the moment but I am hopeful to get some responce at the weekend,

Jill

Hello,

We have a date set for our first book club meeting, hurray. Three couples interested so far so its a good start. 

Jill

 Brilliant Jill!  Why not come back and report on the first book you are going to read?!  Everyone here is nosey about what books are read, so we'd be pleased to see your report.

Good luck!

Hope all goes well with your first meeting Jill.  Yes please do let us know how things go.

Hi,

Our first meetingt went very well, lots of enthusiasm and set a date to start probably in September.

Our first book is 'The Night Watch' by Sarah Waters. 

Regards,

Jill

Hi,

The first meeting went very well with the promise of more members in September when we will start the club running probably,

Our first book is 'The Night Watch' by Sarah Waters, we have decided to get our own books until we get all together with the new members and see what their thoughts are on getting books.

Regards,

Jill