I still remember the first time I went to a book club meeting. I was terrified. I had found the group on Meetup, and I had never met any of the other members. I had visions of sitting around a table staring at strangers in uncomfortable silence. I couldn't have been more wrong.
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After a few minutes of introductions, I felt right at home with my book club. Of course, I was surrounded by other women who also loved to read so we had something in common, but more than that, the woman hosting the meeting had a great set of book discussion questions and conversation starters prepared in advance. She engaged our group and brought us together in a way that really made our club click. Having great book discussion questions is essential to leading a successful book club, and now that I run an online moms book club I use this lesson to avoid awkward silences (yes they can happen online) and create a lively, engaging book club meeting each month.
Does your book club need a little help in creating conversation? Read on for the best ways to find book discussion questions as well as my top ten generic book discussion questions that will work for anything you may choose. And there's a free printable too!
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When you choose a popular book club book, you can often find a wealth of book discussion questions already written for you. Many books have reading guides at the end of the book that are perfect to use for your book club. If not, you can visit the publisher or author's website and find online reading guides.
If you want to go beyond the standard reading guide, a great place to find conversation starters is by searching for interviews with the book's author. For example, when my book club read Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline I found this interview with the author, and it sparked some great conversation (there are spoilers in there!)
You can also try to connect with authors on social media - they may give you some great discussion ideas or even offer to Skype with your book club!
Say you have picked a book that is a bit more obscure, or one that is brand new, and you can't find a discussion guide. Don't worry! I have put together a list of 10 book club discussion questions that will work for any book, and still encourage lively and engaging conversation.
Even if you do have a reading guide, these questions will still help engage your book club members and provide great conversation starters. I like to mix some of these generic questions in to our discussion along with more book specific ones, to create a nice balance in the conversation.
The secret to each question is that they are all open ended - if something can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no" you do not want to include it in your book club question list. These questions will help your members open up.
