Life Is a Special Occasion

Start A Book Club

Warmer weather and longer days make summer perfect for catching up on your reading list. Make it all the more enjoyable by inviting your girlfriends along for the ride with a monthly book club. Here are a few tips and ideas to get you started.

• Start with core members. Choose a handful of girlfriends who already have a relationship and similar interests to be founding members of the club. You can even make it official by buying each core member a Lolita Wine Glass that they can bring to every meeting.
• Mark your calendars. Discuss ideal days and times for meetings with your core group before you extend the invitation to others. It's much easier to coordinate a few calendars than a dozen.
• Choose a theme. Get the girls together (maybe even over cocktails) and brainstorm theme ideas for your club. For instance, you could choose to read books that were made into movies. At meetings you can meet to discuss the book and then watch the movie together. Or if you'd rather have out-of-the-home meetings, choose a restaurant or location that fits the month's theme—like a potluck picnic at an urban park or restaurant reminiscent of the Italian countryside. Bottom line: get creative!
• Plan a discussion. You'll be able to find discussion questions for most bestsellers on the Internet. Some books even include their own topics and questions. Assign a member to lead each month's meeting, or keep it consistent month after month by nominating a discussion leader.
• Keep it comfy. You want enough members in your club so that when the occasional scheduling conflict comes up, you'll still have a group of sufficient size to meet. But you'll also want to keep it small enough to easily coordinate and organize. Once your club reaches an ideal size, bring in a new member once another members drops out. Remember, book clubs are not only perfect excuses to catch up on your reading—they're great ways to make new friends, too.