Book Club Resources Galore

By Julie

I mentioned last week that I've been attending a lot of book club meetings this year in support of Calling Me Home (and in fact am now enjoying my holiday break until the paperback releases!). As a result, I'm always thinking about book clubs: how they get started, how they work, how they pick the books they pick, etc. And as a result of that, I've compiled a wealth of book club resources. I thought I'd share a few.

There are several online book clubs that do a MARVELOUS job of selecting books, bringing in extra materials from the author, igniting discussion, and in general making it easy to read along--whether you're a member of a physical club that chooses the same book or not.

I'm a little partial to one in particular: She Reads. But not just because they selected Calling Me Home as their February 2013 pick, which was the month it released. I believe what they did that month, along with their book blogger network, was huge -- no, INSTRUMENTAL -- in giving Calling Me Home a successful launch. But besides that, I'm signed up to receive each post from the She Reads blog by email, and I really do read every one, because it's good stuff! I've read many of the books they've chosen along with them this year--one of which will go on our "Best books of 2013" post in December, and I always enjoy reading the special posts from the authors.

But wait, there's more!

Target has "Club Picks." Each month a book is featured in stores and online. I've been thrilled to see novels by good friends Priscille Sibley and Lydia Netzer featured this year.

Ladies Home Journal has a book club pick each month, both in their magazine and online. They also have a featured book club each month! Imagine how much fun it would be to see your club in the magazine and online!

Or, you can join Real Simple's "No-Obligation Book Club." Just read along with them and discuss if you want to. No guilt if you forgot to make snacks for the meeting at your house in 20 minutes.

Suzanne Beecher has created a reader advisory service online called Dear Reader. If you sign up, each day she sends you a five-minute excerpt of a book to enjoy with your morning coffee. She also features books weekly. Not sure what to pick for your club when it's your turn? She guarantees you'll be hooked with all the choices she presents.

On Goodreads, you can see what books people have shelved as "Popular Book Club Picks."

Book Movement and LitLovers are two sites that are a whole wealth of information for book clubs. Each site has discussion guides for vast numbers of books, guides for starting book clubs, and lots of "favorites" lists, as well as site picks. Booklist lists these two and several more on a resources for book clubs list.

Book Club Girl recently featured Joshilyn Jackson (who has been a guest here at What Women Write in the past) in a post about getting an author to attend your book club meeting. I can vouch for what she says, though of course #1 is a future dream. :)

I've always loved the Bookreporter.com newsletter that arrives in my inbox each and every Friday. It's like a "Welcome to your weekend" buzzer. I see it and remember it's Friday! I can count on Bookreporter to tell me about all kinds of books releasing in upcoming weeks.

Finally, what if you just want to join an existing club that's accepting new members? One of the best ways I've discovered to look for active book clubs in a particular area is Meetup.com. Simply sign up with your zip code, search by "book club," and voila, you might find yourself struggling to make a choice which one to visit first.

And this is just scratching the surface. What it boils down to is there is a slew of information online for book clubs. If you think you'd like to join one or are in need of resources, never fear, the Internet is here.

Are you in a book club? How do you pick books? What was your club's favorite read of the year so far?