Bookmark the Blog


How to Choose Books for Your Reading Group

How to choose books for your book group

Choosing books is one of the most important tasks for a book group, and a great opportunity to involve all members in the process.

There are lots of great lists and guides for which titles to choose (including right here on Bookmark, our blog!). But we want to focus on how books get chosen. Who does the choosing, and how are decisions made?

There’s no right or wrong way to do it. With book clubs run by a library or organization, it often makes sense for a librarian or other leader to choose the titles on their own.

read more

Take Your Book Group for a Walk

Book club ideas by Reading Group Choices: Walking book group

Who says you have to stay indoors? Get inspired by these walking book groups and bring some fresh air to your discussions!

There’s no single way to run a book group. And when the weather’s nice, it’s a perfect time to take a break from the kitchen table or community room and head outdoors. Walking book groups combine a bit of exercise with their discussion — before, after, or during their walk.

Consider the benefits:

* Fresh air and movement stimulate energy and can result in new ideas and insights into a book

* Walking naturally leads a group to pair off and recombine,

read more

A Feminist Book Group & Bookstore in Paris: Q&A with Lucie Camara

Coven feminist book group and bookstore in paris, france

Meet Lucie Camara, whose feminist book group is the first step to building a community of readers and bringing a new bookstore to Paris.

In a yoga studio on Valentine’s Day, a group of readers came together for the third meeting of COVEN, a feminist book group and larger initiative to bring the only English-language feminist bookstore to Paris. Founder Lucie Camara spoke to Reading Group Choices about her inspiration for the project, her vision for the group, and how to create a safe space for discussion.

Reading Group Choices: How have the first three meetings of the feminist book group differed (if at all) in terms of attendees,

read more

Reading Plays With Your Book Group

Raise the curtain on adding plays to your book group’s discussions.

Plays might not be an obvious choice for book groups. After all, they’re meant for the stage, surrounded by an audience, right? But reading and discussing a play with your group can open up new ways of thinking about stories and add variety to your regular diet of novels, memoirs, and other prose. (And maybe reveal a secret actress or actor among your members!)
Recommendations for plays to read with your book group

Reading Group Choices is pleased to offer these tips for reading a play with your group.

We’ve also rounded up a selection of titles to choose from,

read more

Best of the “Best of” Books 2018

Reading Group Choices presents these best of the best books for 2018

It’s that time… At the end of each year, people gather to celebrate that grand tradition: best-of book lists! But with so many amazing titles on so many lists, how is a reader to decide?

Reading Group Choices has made it easier for the overwhelmed book lover. We’ve combed through the lists and compiled our own — a best of the best books list! Here are the titles we’ve recommended in 2018 that showed up on one (or more) favorite lists from trade journals, indie bookstores, and media sites, including:

New York Times,

read more

Book Group City Tour: Chicago

The Reading Group Choices book group city tour travels to Chicago.

Reading Group Choices travels to Chicago for our next Book Group City Tour!

Chicago is known for its architecture, blues and jazz, deep dish pizza, and beautiful lakefront. It’s also fast on the rise as a major literary city, boasting a growing number of author residents and indie bookstores, plus the new American Writers Museum. And it’s a great place for readers to discuss books!

In our continuing Book Group City Tour series, Reading Group Choices strolls the streets of the Windy City in search of the best (and unexpected) places to join a book club.

read more