Enhance Your Book Club Experience

Whether you are interested in starting a new book club group or looking for new ideas for a club that regularly meets, these book club resources are available to facilitate the planning process.

Book Club in a Bag

The Mercer County Libraries recently launched a “Book Club in a Bag” program. Each Bag provides all the components (and more!) for a successful book club:
• Multiple copies of a book title (approximately 6-10 – depending on the title)
• Author biographical information
• Discussion questions and plot summary
• Tips for starting and leading a book club
• A recipe for the club’s meeting

“Book Club in a Bag” titles are reserved and picked up at the Reference Desk of participating branches. Bags are checked out to one member of your book club group. The kit cannot be renewed, but it can be checked out for six weeks. For a complete listing of titles available via our “Book Club in a Bag” program, please take a look in our catalog.

LitLovers

Recently, after I was asked to be a part of a book club, I came across an informative book club web site. It doesn’t matter if you’re a veteran or new book club participant, LitLovers is a resource that can enhance your book club experience. The site includes book recommendations and so much more. There are four sections to the site: LitClub, LitBlog, LitFun, and LitCourse.

1. LitClub: Whether your book club is “about social bonding or heady discussions,” there are excellent resources for you to use, including summaries, discussion questions, title recommendations, advice on “running” a book club, as well as guidance on starting one.
2. LitBlog: Molly Lundquist, LitLovers founder, blogs her reviews of recently published books, answers to reader’s questions (i.e., Book Club Blues), and reactions to recent book-related news (e.g., Video Games—as good as books? and The Novel is Dead—?).
3. LitFun: Taking the book club experience beyond the book, “[y]ou'll find recipes to spice up a lit event, ideas to energize kids to read, and engaging information about films-from-books.”
4. LitCourse: As a former college English instructor, Lundquist offers free learning modules, such as “The Novel: A Mirror of the World” and “How to Read: Irony” to help booklovers get more out of their reading.
   

For your next book club gathering, take a look at the resources available with the library’s “Book Club in a Bag” program, as well as LitLovers.

- Anna, Hopewell Branch