With the holidays (and my birthday) fast approaching, I was tasked with making a wish list to give to family, and like many people, my list contained books.
I love to read, and I know I’m not alone in wanting to discuss what I read with people, so I decided to look into how to start a book club.

Now, I like to think I’m in an unwilling book club of two people: Me, who does the reading, and my very patient husband, who does the listening while I rant about and analyze a book. I love book club discussion questions, and he’s been listening to me spout verbal essays about themes, metaphors and symbolism since we were in AP English in high school. It’s mostly just me talking to myself but with an audience.
I’m an only child, I could talk to myself all day. But, many people prefer two-way or even group discussions about books they’ve read, so I reached out to the Brandon Township Public Library to chat with Sue Warner, who runs the Book Buzz book club at BTPL, which meets September-May.
“I believe our book club started eight years ago,” said Warner. “We meet at the library once a month on the third Wednesday.”
To start a book club, Warner suggests reaching out to people in the community through word of mouth.
“Most of the people that are in the group were actually new people to Ortonville and were looking to meet new people in the community,” she said. “They have become friends, we have a good time in our group. It’s a very relaxed group.”
The fun thing is that you all have a common interest right from the start: you’re interested in reading. So find a group of people, then find a place, such as someone’s house, a local library, or another venue. Even a park could be a good meeting place during warmer times of the year.
But once you have a group and a place, you have to pick a book as a group, which can be difficult if everyone’s interests are different. A lot of people prefer certain genres or like fiction versus nonfiction.
“The books are chosen by everyone in the group,” said Warner. “They submit a title and I set them up through the year. And we take summers off, as most people are busy and it’s just easier not to schedule during that time.”
Once you have your group, your place, your meeting time, and your book, all that’s left to do is read the book and discuss it. Have you ever read a book and found book club discussion questions in the very back of the book? I love those, and they make a good jumping-off point for readers to formulate discussions with friends.
“The discussion about the book is done by questions I gather, and the discussion usually goes from there,” said Warner.
Of course, starting a book club can be a big undertaking, so if you just want to join one, there are plenty out in the community. Start by asking around the library, because a lot of patrons are part of book clubs. And, of course, there are clubs hosted by local libraries.
“If someone is looking for a book club, we are always accepting people here,” said Warner. “There are a couple more around town that I have heard about.”