How does your book club choose books? (cover, best, classic)

[Alley01]

I am just curious about others book clubs? How do you decide what book you are going to read? Is it drawn out of a hat, chosen from a select genre, etc.?

What methods have worked well and which ones haven't? Any tips?

Thanks in advance!

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by Alley01

I am just curious about others book clubs? How do you decide what book you are going to read? Is it drawn out of a hat, chosen from a select genre, etc.?

What methods have worked well and which ones haven't? Any tips?

Thanks in advance!

It's a nonfiction group that meets once a month. We vote on 4 books about every 4 months. People submit recommendations to the group leader via e-mail with the one rule being they have to have read it themselves to recommend it and they are supposed to check on the book's availability. With the recommendation comes a one paragraph description of the book(s) and a page count (so we know if it should be a one month or two month discussion if the book is selected). About 3 days before the voting meeting, the group leader sends out an e-mail with all of the recommendations on it so people come to the voting process knowing the choices in advance. On the day of the voting, the recommender gets a chance to pitch their book(s). It's a hands up voting deal and you get to vote 3 times. You can recommend as many books as you like.

Every year, the discussion leader also sends out an e-mailed spreadsheet showing all of the books selected in the past so new joiners don't suggest something we've already done.

What I don't like is that on the day of the voting, people add books to the voting choices. I don't care if they claim the book is great. I'll never vote for those late add ons because I think it's deliberate that they don't want people to research a book before they vote for it.

We usually have about 20 people show up. It's actually considered to be a class offering with a retiree program but we don't meet at the college and we meet all year long. There is also a fiction group and a classics group. I don't know anything about their voting method(s). They also do not meet at the college. It has to do with the school break periods when the college is closed.

[PA2UK]

I'm only involved in online bookclubs on Goodreads groups so there is first a topic for nominating books and sometimes nominations will be limited to specific topics or genres (which may have been voted on earlier or may have been randomly selected by the group admins/mods). Once nominations are done, a poll is put up and of course the book with the most votes wins.

[Mayvenne]

I was in a book club for about 2 years (not any longer). We were about 10 to 12 women, and met once a month rotating at each others homes. The person who was hosting the next one, would sebd an email which listed a few books (usually 3 to 5 or so) usually linking to amazon for the book. We would all vote and the highest scorer would be chosen. It struck me as being pretty fair and open to all suggestions.

[CA4Now]

Everyone in the group (about 7-10 people) took a turn choosing a book; the group met once every 6 weeks.

[pinetreelover]

My book club has been meeting monthly for five years so our method seems to work for us.

If you host book club at your house, you choose the book for two months from that time. For example, the person who hosts in August picks the October book, the person who hosts in September chooses for November, and so on...

In other words, the "reward" for hosting is that you get to choose a book. We don't vote - it is solely up to the hostess to make the pick. Some people like to pick a book that they have not read, others choose something they have read already. Often the group voices opinions like "no more biographies" or "lets take a non-fiction break" and that will be taken into consideration.

We really do try to stay away from new release hard backs though as we don't want everyone to have to buy the book. We broke that rule with "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" though as we were all eager to read it as soon as it came out.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by pinetreelover

We really do try to stay away from new release hard backs though as we don't want everyone to have to buy the book.

That's our general rule, but we are known to break it--lately we've had 3 hardcovers in a row! But one of us has a Kindle, and other people share so not everyone needs to purchase a book.

Our manner of choosing is very informal and subjective, someone makes a suggestion, and the choice is made by what kind of buzz is generated.

If we have been reading some depressing, dense or heavy-duty subject matter, we sometimes take a break and choose lighter material.

I don't always like the books we choose, but lately we have been on a roll and I've enjoyed them all.

[Alley01]

Thanks again for all the suggestions! A few of my friends will also be on Maternity Leave at the same time that I will be and we thought it would be good to start reading books that we can discuss. Fantastic suggestions!!

[jackmccullough]

The group I'm in has been going for about thirty-five years, although I haven't been in it that long.

In our group the selection rotates, with essentially no input from other members. In fact, on those occasions when a member comes in and is on the fence about which book to select, other members are pretty resistant to giving any guidance.

My wife and I (yes, not only are there men and women in the group, but there are three married couples) agree that this is the best way to go. Even though I don't always like my assigned book, this method ensures that we'll be reading books that we wouldn't otherwise read.

[PeachyMJ]

Whoever hosts, selects the book. We do give a month or two advance notice.