I've been in 2 good book clubs, and I've met some of my best friends in them. Both of them started via www.meetup.com. Who would have thought?!
When I lived in California, I wondered what being in a book club was like but didn't know anyone else in one. I had never been in one so I didn't know what to expect. A friend, who was in the same boat as me (Hey Amanda!), and I decided to start one on meetup. This concept of meetup was very new to me, and I started the group all while side-eying my computer screen. What kind of creeps or anti-socials would come out of the woods and infiltrate this book club?! The requests to join came flooding in and the women looked like us (well, most did. We had a few wildcards). We made precautions for safety like meeting up first to "get to know each other" over cocktails and then planned our first event at a restaurant. I met so many people that I would not have met otherwise! We loved it. After a year, we went offline and continued on our own.
When I came to St. Louis, I missed my old book club and decided to repeat this previous experience and hope for success. Again, I set the criteria and waited, and the requests started coming in. Again, I met so many great people. I've learned that people who travel around and move out of their home towns look to meetup as an easy way to meet people so it's a fun way to meet transplants and new international friends. There are groups for everything (knitting, networking, sci fi, autism, book club, hiking, moms activities, etc.), including those things you can't imagine a market for. There are also many locals who just want to meet new people or are feeling lonely in their groups of friends due to life changes in stages.
The structure of the book club was to read 1/month and discuss the book in a restaurant that fit the setting of the book (or close if not available). We read a book set in Nicaragua and discussed over dinner at Fritanga, a quaint little Nicaraguan gem in St. Louis that I would have otherwise not known about. it's fun to support local business to get a better feel for the book and characters when having that cuisine or ambiance.
I met so many great women and we continued for 6 months until managing the meetup became too big a chore on top of everything else I was juggling. I spent more time on this than some because I removed members who weren't participating to allow for new spots to open but this is not necessary. Some of us that were the most frequent participants decided to meet anyway because we couldn't imagine not meeting to chat about what we have read or done so we continued on and shared the responsibilities. We drew months and each person picks a book and location for their month. In this, we all have equal ownership and it further expands the diversity of books.
My current book club composition is so diverse. We have women who have lived oversees, women who just moved to STL from other cities and countries, locals, Muslim, Christian, Jewish-ish, moms, stepmoms, single, and married w/o kids. We are scattered along the political continuum and our professions range across medicine, healthcare, law, engineering, nutrition, and more. We can have discussions about thoughts and perspectives openly and very honestly without taking offense and worrying about offending another. I have learned so much and have broadened so many perspectives. I've been able to see my world get bigger and bigger, and my global perspectives expand larger while my individual perspectives grow smaller.
Because some of us enjoy reading so much, we throw in an extra book here and there for those that find it easy to go beyond 1/month. We also incorporate events that relate to books (author events, shows) or just for fun because we are there! We now hang out without discussing a book.
If you've ever wanted to be in a book club but didn't know how to get started or find one, just start your own! If you do meetup, the people will come. Meetup will do the bulk of the work for a low cost. You can then move offline once you find a handful of women that you feel comfortable with and enjoy spending time with. You can be as superficial or deep or loose or strict as you want in terms of time/location schedules, conversations, book choice, etc. This can be women, mixed, Christian, moms, married couples, whatever you need!
Need any tips to get started?! We'll be happy to share ours so just ask (including a list of our books that have been favorites) or you can take a peek at my book recommendations page for book ideas.
Recently, we met up at the Missouri History Museum for the Little Black Dress exhibit based on the book, "From Mourning to Night." What a fun girls day! We wore black, perused the exhibit and then did lunch at Bixby's (within the museum).
I'll post some pictures below of the museum day and a few other book club events!
Read on sisters,
Danielle
I'm so glad that you found a tribe of book clubbers in St. Louis! I was invited to join my book club 12.5 years ago, shortly after I moved to SoCal. It has been such a blessing in my life. Not only did I meet new friends and role models through it, read a lot of new and interesting books, and eat so much yummy food during it, but I developed a piece of my life that I can't imagine living without now. The group is all women - from different faith and personal backgrounds. Ironically, many of the women are writers/editors/project managers. Every five weeks, we gather to discuss a book that we put on our schedule at the beginning of the year. We meet for dinner at someone's home and everyone contributes to the meal. The food is so delicious and the members are such foodies that I often describe the group as a cooking club disguised as a book club. Sometimes we attend a concert together or get together outside of our normal meeting dates to celebrate something else (like one member publishing her first book or finishing chemo). The women threw me a wedding shower and surprise baby shower and never fail to send flowers or a card during life's joyous or sad occasions. Three cheers for great book clubs, for sure!!
ReplyDelete