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At first it might seem intimidating—the idea of starting a book club. After all, there’s a lot to think about, and so many books available to read. Where does one begin?

As you begin to narrow down your options, you may discover this is the perfect time to organize a club of your own. With four book clubs under my belt, I believe I’m starting to get the hang of it now. That said, each group is as different as the people and the books that come to the table.

Keeping these seven questions in mind when forming a book club of your own might prove to be beneficial:

1.      Why start a book club?
It’s essential to answer this question before you work out all the other details.  Initially, there is quite a bit of work that goes into organizing your group. Take a moment to ask yourself how important this venture is to you and why. What do you hope to gain from this endeavor?  Of course sharing a love of books is the main reason why most people start a book club. Likewise it’s a way to grow a community, bringing people closer around a theme or book. This is the reason I started two book clubs at different housing facilities in town—with the hope that a community would come together around a book discussion. So far, so good.

2.      Who to invite?
This relates back to the first question. If you know the purpose of your book club, you’ll know the people to invite. Perhaps it’s a “come one, come all” group. My Senior Center group is this type of club; it is open to the community. As long as the participant picks up the book from the library ahead of time, she can drop in and join the conversation. On the other hand a small group might be your preference. After the birth of my first daughter, I craved adult conversation, so I reached out to some mothers in my church. We ended up with a group of 8-10 to start. If you plan to keep your group intimate however, you might decide to close off membership at some point.

3.      Whether to name your group?
This might seem like a silly idea, but some groups like to have a distinct identity. According to www.readinggroupchoices.com, people use a lot of creativity when naming their book groups. Better Than Therapy Book Club and It’s Not Just About the Food Book Club are a few sample titles. Then there’s Marmaladies, Litwits, Book Broads and John (poor John), and the one I’d jump at . . .Wine, Chocolate & Books. How’s that for the perfect combination?
 
4.      When to meet?
This depends upon a few factors. How strong are your readers? Can they breeze through a 300 page book in no time? Are they retired, so they have mornings free every other week? The key is to survey the group to see what works best. Ultimately it comes down to what works for the leader and the majority of the members. It’s possible that you may lose a reader or two along the way because the meeting time is no longer feasible for her. In this case you can decide whether to have a “once a member, always a member” policy, in the event that someone wants to return in the future (i.e. when her child actually sleeps through the night).
 
5.      Where to meet?
Often times you can use a library room for free, if you sign up ahead of time. There’s also your local church, synagogue, café or bookstore, if you prefer to keep the meeting in a public place. This is best for an open group. For closed groups, where all of the members are friendly with one another, there is nothing like a home meeting. Your choice may depend upon whether you want to serve refreshments.
 
6.      Who will run the meetings?
In many ways it helps the meetings to run smoothly when one person is in charge of facilitating the discussion questions. If you started the book club, you should feel free to take on the role of a leader. This means that you can step in when there are gaps in the conversation, but if the conversation is flowing naturally, don’t interrupt. The trickiest part of being a leader is the handling of difficult personalities. Also, there may be one or two people who dominate the conversation. The art of leading book club is making sure everyone who wants to gets a chance to share.
 
7.      How to choose your book titles?
So many books, so little time. Anyone who is an avid reader faces this dilemma. Which books to choose? After running several book clubs, I have come to the conclusion that some books are best when read alone, while others must be shared. A good mystery may be a great read, but it might not lead to a valuable discussion once you know “Who Done It.” Typically I search for books that are well-written, but they may have been overlooked in the shuffle. For several of my book clubs, I’m unable to use the hottest sellers because twenty copies won’t be available through interlibrary loan. To generate a book discussion, I’d recommend the following resources: the author’s website, the publisher’s website, Books and Authors and NoveList (databases through www.norwoodlibrary.org), litlovers.com, bookclubgirl.com, readinggroupchoices.com, and goodreads.com
           
Keep in mind the best book club involves preparation, participation and a good sense of humor. Or course chocolate helps, too! 
            
Here’s a few fun book titles to go along with your book club:
The book club cookbook : recipes and food from your book club’s favorite books and authors / Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp
 
Off the beaten page : the best trips for lit lovers, book clubs, and girls on getaways / Terri Peterson Smith

Josh “Papa” Funk is a talented children’s writer and poet. We met at The Writer’s Loft in Sherborn, MA. I’m especially looking forward to his upcoming picture books. I can’t help but be intrigued by Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast, to be published by Sterling, Fall 2015. Likewise, who wouldn’t want to read Dear Dragon: A Pen Pal Tale by Viking/Penguin, Winter 2016. Josh will be posting his blog around July 21^st.

The world has changed immensely since I took a trip overseas more than a decade ago. My personal world has changed as well. Last time I traveled across “The Pond,” I didn’t have children. Also, my cell phone was the size of a brief case, and maps were things that I folded and unfolded rather than tap and click.

This spring I learned that my husband would be speaking at a scientific conference in London, and I was determined to join him. Why not? Free flight, free room—there was nothing to lose. After the euphoria dissipated, however, I began to feel a bit hesitant. I would be navigating the city for five days on my own. There were so many things to see and do. How would I narrow down all the choices?

Of course, this is our job as librarians every day. Taking the mountain of information that is out there, and discovering the best trail for navigating to the top. Still, the thought of refining my London sightings to a few gems seemed daunting.  Certainly, eBooks and apps awaited my fingertips, but my request wasn’t easy. I wanted to find those touristy interests that suited my personality. Where to turn?

My first choice might seem surprising. I turned to Facebook. In a sense, this was like asking my best friend what she would do while visiting London—except I was asking 1000 friends. The response was a bit overwhelming, but it made me aware of the options that existed. I realized, with just five days in the city, I had to select one or two museums to visit. I also realized there were places that I wouldn’t waste my time on. After all I couldn’t cram everything into one trip.

Once I had an idea about the places I wanted to see, I turned to the library. Call me middle-aged and old-fashioned, but I prefer having at least one book and one map in hand. Sure, apps can be helpful when the “global services” were working, but there’s no guarantee. I wanted something handy and non-wireless in my backpack. Turns out the tried and true map saved the day many times on my trip.

We have an abundance of tour guides at our library. It’s worth a trip in to see all we have to offer on travel. From Scotland to Spain, Costa Rica to Russia, the world awaits. I perused many titles on London. We have over 12 on the famous city alone. A few of my favorites were the following:

Top 10 London by DK Eyewitness Travel. This book is a handy size with a pull-out map and guide. It functions in a topical manner, highlighting churches, museums, pubs, etc.

Insight Guides: London by APA Publications. The nice thing about this resource is the topics are divided by main areas of interest (ex: West London, Southward and the South Bank, Knighsbridge, Kensigton and Notting Hill). I was able to find the area I was staying in and all the local sights nearby. Chock full of information, this guide felt a bit too heavy to toss in my pack.

London’s 25 Best: What to See, Where to Go, What to Do by Fodor’s. This is also a handy size and includes a map. I like books that narrow things down to the essentials, and this one did a good job with that. The summary page of the top 25 things to do was useful. Ironically, I ended up visiting just four of the suggested Must-Sees.

And my favorite book that I brought with me was London 2013 by Rick Steves. This is a “personal tour guide in your pocket.” It includes self-guided walks and extremely helpful tidbits. From here, I learned about purchasing the Oyster card, which is similar to our Charlie card in Boston. With this, I was able to navigate the Tube and the turnstiles easily to all my destination points. I also took a double-decker bus tour thanks to Steves. This was the best deal around. I hopped on one of the last buses at 3 pm, but the passes were good for 24 hours. The next day (with my same ticket) I took two walking tours—The Royal London Walk and The Harry Potter Film Location Tour, thanks to Phil Harris and The Big Bus Tours. This was worth its weight in gold, and bonus, I saw Prince Charles in his Royal cab thanks to Phil’s fabulous tour guide instincts.

There were some books that I didn’t consider, but they might interest others. Walking Haunted London by Richard Jones, Secret London by Andrew Duncan and Take the Kids London by Joseph Fullman (did not touch that one!!).

Believe it or not, the best advice I received was from a friend. She recommended “being open to the element of surprise.” For the hesitant traveler this seemed risky, but it worked beautifully. At a café in Kensington, a woman sitting next to me leaned over to tell me some of her favorite places. Her spontaneous review was invaluable. The taxi driver on the way in from Heathrow was fabulous as well. London happens to be a city chock full of friendly people. Anytime I had a question, I received a helpful reply.

As it turned out, my favorite things in London were a bit of a surprise to me. While preparation is a wonderful thing, so is the element of surprise. Remaining open to where the wind takes you or fog, in the case of London, proved to be the best advice of all.
And, just in case you’re wondering. . .

My Five Favorite Things Were:

1. The Big Bus Tours (eng.bigbustours.com) and my tour guide, Phil . . . the bus provided a fabulous overview of the city and their guides offer a variety of walking tours.
2. The British Library…thanks to a librarian friend of mine, I ventured into the library near King’s Cross station and I was amazed by what a found. Not only is the library gorgeous, but the Map Room contains original documents, including the Magna Carta, the Gutenberg Bible, Jane Austen’s Persuasian (with her edits) and original sketches and notes from Leonardo di Vinci.
3. High Tea at St Pancras Station . . . I wanted to experience High Tea with clotted cream and cucumber sandwiches, but I didn’t want to pay a fortune, or have to dress in high heels.
4. Westminster Abbey…not cheap to tour, but worth it all for the Poet’s Corner alone. This was the one place that I knew I wanted to discover after reading about it in the tour books, and it was the first sight that I headed to after landing. As it was right before Easter, I was able to attend a five o’clock service.
5. The Tower of London . . . the tour guide did a great job and kept me on the edge of my seat with all the tower’s intrigue and mystery. I kept my eyes peeled for the ghost of poor Anne Boyleyn. Maybe you’ll catch sight of her when you go!