The "No Rules Book Club"

  You’re a reader, and you have friends who are readers. Everyone you know has a favorite book, and some of them love to get together at regular—or irregularly scheduled—times to talk about what they’ve read. Being a member of a book club is as worthwhile as being a member of the human race—readers are great subset populations in the Venn diagram of humanity. 

     There are as many varieties of book clubs as there are people, but here’s a pop quiz that allows for pondering: The longest lasting book clubs are ones that: (a) engender memorable discussions (b) provide food and drinks (c) schedule field trips (d) do not have rules. There are no right or wrong answers, but…how can a book club with no rules be a book club? 

     Answer: Replace “rule” with “axiom” and be prepared for a book club experience that will continue to surprise, comfort, educate, and entertain all at the same time. The operative axiom (a “a universally accepted principle”) is that reading books and discussing them in community (or in a kind of communion, if you include bread and wine) is a fun and rewarding aspect of life. 

     Without rules to worry about, the members of a book club may agree to read the book that’s been suggested—or not—or read some other book that they’d like to speak about, review, or critique.  They may decide to meet in each others’ homes, or at public locations such as coffee shops, restaurants, parks, libraries, or community centers. Food provided by the host, potluck, BYOB and snack? It doesn’t matter—switch it up for each meeting. 

     A book club without rules is at liberty to create their next meeting as a field trip. Read a book about nature and then meet at a park to go for a hike and a picnic. Read a biography about a local celebrity and then visit the place or places in which they enjoyed fame. Read a book that was made into a movie, then discuss the book after seeing the movie on a video or at a theater. Read a cookbook written by a local chef, then have the meeting at his/her restaurant.

     Reading a book by a deadline is very yesterday. Reading a book due to the love of reading, discussing, and making memories is an axiom that is asking to be discussed by at least a few readers in your community. So…will you book club members suspend your rules for a while and add more play? Or, will you create your own “no rules” book club to enjoy for years to come?   

SIDEBAR: 

Books That May Lead to Unruly Discussions

Short Stories: Tenth of December, by George Saunders

Novel:  Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens

Travel: Riding the Iron Rooster, Paul Theroux

Nonfiction: A Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman

Poetry: Good Bones, Maggie Smith

Memoir:  An Imperfect Rapture, Kelly Beard 

Surprise: Sum: Tales from the Afterlives, David Eagleman

Mary Holden

https://clarissaburt.com