Welcome to In The Club, a newsletter of resources to keep your book group well-met and well-read.
So, we all settled in and feeling back to normal after the holidays? No? Didn’t think so. Let’s all just forget about adulting for a few minutes then and talk book things! This week’s club agenda include rules, resolutions, and permission to backlist. Let’s get to it before I cough my face off again, because I’m somehow stiiiill sick. Take those vitamins, friends. Save yourselves!!!
This newsletter is sponsored by The Red Address Book by Sofia Lundberg.
When Doris was a girl, she was given an address book by her father, and ever since has carefully documented everyone she met and loved throughout the years. Now, 96-year-old Doris sees the many crossed-out names of people long gone and is struck by the urge to put pen to paper. In writing down the stories of her colorful past—working as a maid in Sweden, modeling in Paris during the 30s, fleeing to Manhattan at the dawn of the Second World War—can she help her grand-niece Jenny, haunted by a difficult childhood, unlock the secrets of their family? And whatever became of Allan, the love of Doris’s life?
Win Some Things! – Before we get to the goods, mozy on over here for a chance to win $100 to your favorite bookstore!
Resolution Reads – In the first Get Booked episode of 2019, Jenn and Amanda share their picks for resolution reading. If you’re rolling your eyes and thinking, “pero…..I don’t do resolutions!,” fret not. These books are just plain ol’ solid reads on everything from personal finance and sleeping better to witchery and demystifying yoga. Bwahahhaa… witchery.
- Book Club Bonus: Whether or not you and your clubmates consider yourselves “resolution people,” there is at least one area in each of our lives that we want to improve upon, a project we want to take on, etc. For example: I’d be really into reading some books about personal finance with my lady friends, ones that offer simple and practical guidance on investing or building up one’s savings. Everyone could set a goal (and yes, it’ll be different for everyone) and then track that progress with every meeting.
The Book Club Rule Book – Welcome to book club! The first rule of book club is: you do not talk about book club. The second rule of book club is: you DO NOT TALK ABOUT okay I’ll stop. A few guidelines can be pretty helpful in keeping book club going; Rioter Jesse Doogan shares her experience with club rules and suggest some reads for book club too.
- Book Club Bonus: Take a look at your own book club and see what issues might be remedied with a few quick rules. Agree on hard parameters for book length and meeting frequency, set a rotation for whose turn it is to pick the book, etc. Rules are cool, dude! Me however? Jury’s still out.
- Related: Eeeek I’m in the middle of Once Upon A River and am loving it so far! Like Jesse says, no one weaves a fairy tale like Diane Setterfield. So good!
Don’t You (Forget About These) – 2018 came and went and with it went so many unread books! But don’t you feel like the door has closed on picking up last year’s remarkable reads. Don’t don’t don’t don’t…
- Book Club Bonus: You may be looking forward to this year’s releases, and who could blame you with all the amazing stuff coming in 2019?! But don’t feel pressured to only read new books, whether individually or in book club. There’s a whole wide world of backlist titles out there calling your name.
- Related: Last week on the Riot’s YouTube channel, I talked about my reading “notsolutions:” things I won’t do in 2019. One of those things is to not read as many new books to make more room for reading older books. I’m stoked to finish V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series, A Discovery of Witches, to re-read And Then There Were None. I’m reading for joy without regard to “importance.” Join me!
Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with your burning book club questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter, get it on the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too.
Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa