Recently because of the encouragement of my friend Katy and my husband, Istarted a book club with some like minded ladies who all work with me. Not long after, I helped plan the programming ApolloCon in Houston for Katy.

 We proposed a panel about book clubs (since we were both in one) and two of the Guests of Honor, Ann Vandermeer and Jean Gomell, were interested so it was put on the docket for Sunday morning. It was a much enjoyed meandering panel about what it was like to share a love of books with a group of people. All four of us had very different types of book clubs and therefore very different experiences. The comparison after the jump:

-Jean: with her partner was part of a club at a local bookstore. One of the employees runs it and chooses the book for the public. It was open to the public and she said they typically had around 12-15 people depending on the book. It was of mixed genders and ages, their discussions stayed on the topic of the book. She enjoyed it because some of the books she may not have picked up on her own and even the ones they didn’t like led to a lively discussion. They had been a part of this particular group for many years. The genres of the books varied widely.

-Ann: was in a book club with a few women in her synagogue. They each took turns picking a book (although Ann said, being an editor, sometimes she made more suggestions than others) and they varied in genre, including non-fiction. Their group was small and they had had to turn away others to preserve the intimacy that they valued in the group.

-Katy: is in a group with friends that are all young career people in their 20’s and 30’s. They’re mostly women, with one guy they recently admitted, and they use a combination of a nomination process, random drawing and voting process to choose their books. The books vary in genre and their group is small. It was a way for all of the friends whose lives and careers kept them very busy, to set a specific time to get together. 

-Lola (that’s me): started a group with a few girls at work she knew liked to read. They’re all in their 20’s, recent college graduates, several of them newly married. It quickly expanded from 5-6 women to 10 and growing as word got out. So far they choose books based on a general consensus after doing research online. This book club has turned into more of a regular social group, that happens to read books. All women and they alternate one speculative book with one contemporary novel in selections.

In the panel, we brought up the fact that perhaps book clubs seemed to be gaining momentum again. But we never really seemed to get around to speculating why? I think it has to do with the rise of internet social networking. When I first started our book club I got online to research for our first selections and found the website bookmovement.com, which is like a social network for book clubs. As a member of goodreads and the occasional reader of io9.com I knew that there were quite a few online book clubs cropping up. Meetups is another online website that comes to mind. Maybe the internet has helped people find more like-minded readers. Who knows?

I know it’s become an amazing experience and helped me make better friends with ladies at work I thought had similar interests. Actually some of them surprised me! I hadn’t talked much about my Con-going lifestyle or interest in writing fantasy novels. During our first meeting to decide what books to read, we started half-heartedly going through what I call “Oprah” books until Simone asked what kinds of books we liked to read on our own. One said, mystery, another romance, I bucked up the guts to say fantasy, so did a few others. I was amazed and said, “Dudes, I think we all just came out of the closet at the same time.”

Then we started discussing in earnest books we had wanted to read and although we all agreed we wanted to read some more mainstream books, we were much more excited about the speculative fiction titles we had decided on. First we would read a young adult sci fi, Incarceron, I had picked up at the book store a while back and still hadn’t started. Next we would read The Help, since the movie was coming out and it would be a good opportunity for a group outing (which we now call field trips). After that we would read Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (my husband had read all of them and it was on my to-read list).

Now we’ve read all three of those and are currently on Soulless by Gail Carriger. (Who’s coming to visit Dallas at the end of this month.) It’s been a great way to vent about work and create a support group. We’ve lost a few people but gained a few people. The core group has stayed the same so far.

But enough about me, do any of you belong to a book club? Want to start one? Do you think book clubs are on the rise? Any ideas on why?