Reading Group Guidelines

Reading groups are for people who love reading, literature, and writers, and who want to become more active participants in the literary community. Reading groups give solitary readers the opportunity to share their impressions, feelings, and ideas about books with like-minded people. In this section are some suggestions for starting and running a reading group. Adapt them to your own needs and abilities.

Starting a Reading Group

1. Find a group of people interested in reading and discussing the work of the visiting authors. Call or Email friends and family members, ask them to contact others, and go to your local libraries for sign up lists. Make sure all group members are able to get to your local libraries for the reading group meetings. The ideal group size is between 8 and 12 members; sticking to this guideline will ensure that every member has a chance to talk.
2. During your first meeting as a group, decide how often to meet and at what time. Once every two weeks to a month is ideal for meetings; it’s also ideal to meet at the same time of day so participants can plan their schedules around the meetings.
3. Establish a commitment from all group members: Participants should be dedicated to the idea of the reading group and to the works read and discussed.

Running a Reading Group

1. Once your group is established and your meeting schedule set, decide on ground rules. Decide how you will organize the group and how you’ll make book selections. Will you have a leader? Will you have one person in charge of ordering the books you’ll read? Will you have someone do Web research on the authors and issues addressed in the books? Will you have one person in charge of coordinating food for group meeting? These are just some of the questions to consider.
2. Once you know who your reading group’s participants are, where and when you’ll meet, and what group members’ responsibilities are, you can decide how best to read and discuss. Do members want to read the whole book and then have a meeting? Or would reading and discussing a few chapters at each meeting work better for members? Do you want one group member to be responsible for Emailing or calling members with questions about the book prior to meetings? Perhaps you want to focus a reading group meeting on writing projects connected to the author visits. Keep your options open: A successful reading group is not only a congenial meeting of lovers of books but an opportunity to become a more active citizen of the world of literature.
3. Finally, have fun! You should not only learn from reading and discussing the books but also enjoy one another’s company. Learn more about your friends and neighbors. A reading group gives you insight into literature, but equally important are the insights you gain about group members.