The title of this post is absolutely NOT one of the rules of book club. We don’t have any actual rules, but as a friend of mine is preparing to start her own book club, I find myself wanting to interject and say, “Well, that’s not how we do it in our book club.” I am holding back, because it’s her book club. She can do whatever she wants, and I am sure it will be great!

So the more I think about it, the more I realize that we do have some unspoken rules. And if you know me, I am all about speaking the unspeakable (not sure if that’s a good quality or a bad quality). I have decided to list the “rules” out here, so that future book club organizers might refer to them. However, I do feel very strongly that your book club should be your book club, and you can do whatever you want with it. This is just what works for our group.

In no particular order . . .
1) Meet on week nights only. Maybe this is because we started out as strangers. Now we do hang out on weekends, but just not for book club.
2) Always involve wine. Even if no one feels like drinking, there must at least be the opportunity to do so.
3) Have all meetings except the first one at someone’s home. You have to make sure people aren’t crazy stalkers before you invite them to know where you live.
4) The person who hosts is responsible for dinner.
5) All attendees should try to bring a bottle of wine, or some sort of snack.
6) The person who hosts also chooses the book.
7) Every effort is made to choose a book that no one has read, but since we are (look at me tooting my own horn!) reasonably well read women (look at me calling myself a grown-up!) it is not always possible to choose something no one has read and that is ok.
8) Read “fluff” near the holidays, and sometimes in the summer.
9) Meet every 4-6 weeks, depending on holidays, vacations, etc.
10) Women only, except honorary members who attended book club for 9 months while in utero. Once said honorary member is able to repeat what we say we may have to reconsider.
11) If you are next up to choose a book/host, try to have something ready at the current book club, or email out your selection as soon as you are able. (Hey, it takes some of us a long time to read a book).
12) We read some non-fiction, but we try not to read too much non-fiction in a row.
13) Try to choose books that are available in paperback or at the library.

Please feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments!