1. Read the Book – The first rule of The Book Club is to read the book! This is essential to any good book club meeting. If all the members come prepared having read the book, then we are sure to have a much better discussion time together.
2. Arrive on Time – We value and respect each others time.
3. Be Kind and Courteous – Sometimes, discussions can get heated! Treat other members of our book club with respect and kindness. And if two or more members are in a heated discussion or argument that can’t be solved, we agree to disagree and move on to other conversation topics!
4. Speak Up and Share Your Thoughts – If each member is willing to speak up when they have thoughts then the book club is going to be better for everyone! But it’s also important for book club members to not feel pressure to speak if you don’t have anything to share.
5. Take Turns Sharing – Following up on the previous rule…while it’s great to speak up and share your thoughts, you also want to make sure you aren’t speaking over others! If someone hasn’t had a turn to share yet, be sure to give them the space to share if they would like to rather than continuing to talk and ignoring those who haven’t yet spoken.
6. Bring Questions – Bring at least 1 question to the book club discussion. While the host of the book club can have general book club questions on hand to help get the discussion started, members are sure to have some of their own questions when reading through the book. We encourage members to write down these questions as they read and bring them with them for a more robust book discussion time!
7. Stay on Topic – When getting together with others, it can be easy for social time and small talk to encroach on discussion time. So consider keeping social time and small talk to before and after the meetings.
8. Have Fun! – And for the final rule on the book club guidelines, have fun! After all, that’s what reading and book clubs should be. So we encourage you to remember that it’s meant to be fun, and by following all the guidelines here you can help make it fun for everyone!