How to Host a Successful Book Club: Tips and Tricks

The excitement and anticipation of starting a book club is a singular experience. Diving into a new book knowing you’re going to discuss what happened with friends is more than enough motivation to breeze through that paperback. Plus, we can appreciate book club not only because fitting in some extra reading is always a good thing, but because it gives us an excuse to be with friends. Don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe we don’t need a reason to spend time with our friends. But, the chances of us actually getting together are more likely if there’s a scheduled activity involved.

For some of us, half the fun of being part of a book club is getting to host a meeting. For others, this is a more stressful task due to all of the planning it entails. Like any event, it can be tough to know where to begin planning something like this. There can be a lot to think about: the ins and outs of starting the club, how to prepare for the meeting, and how to put your best foot forward when it comes to hosting.

If you ask us, hosting the perfect book club comes down to a few key things: a good group, some quality refreshments—like having a few bottles of editor-favorite wine, La Crema, on hand for hosting—and a great book. With these essentials at the ready, book club night will be nothing short of successful. Whether you fall into the “can’t wait to host” category, you’re the last to volunteer, or somewhere in the middle, read on for our how-to guide for hosting the perfect book club night.

In this article

1 How to Get People to Join

2 How to Choose the Perfect Book

3 How to Prepare for an Interesting and Engaging Discussion

4 What to Serve While Hosting

How to Get People to Join

Of course, there can be no book club without a club—aka an enthusiastic group of readers. So, where do we begin to find our bibliophiles? And once we have them locked in, what’s the best way to coordinate book club correspondence?

Perhaps the easiest place to start recruiting members is within your friendship circle. Begin by putting feelers out with your current friends to see if they’d be interested in reading and attending a recurring discussion. If you’re looking for more members (or your friends just aren’t interested), it’s nice to ask coworkers or other moms you know from your neighborhood.

How many people you ask will depend on how big you want your club to be. A great group size to aim for is six to eight people as this number is best for keeping discussions on track and making sure everyone’s opinions are heard. This all comes down to personal preference, though, so if you’re a “the more the merrier type” or want some extra time with just a few close friends, read on!

Once we’ve found our people, we’re going to need a good way to communicate book choices, meeting times, and so on. To do so, you really can’t go wrong with a good ole group chat through text messages or Facebook Messenger. From my experience, group text chats tend to reach more people in a timely manner. If your book club grows to include lots of people—especially those that don’t all know each other—it wouldn’t hurt to consider putting together a Facebook Group. This way members can put profile pictures to names as opposed to sifting through random phone numbers.

book club books — *Source: @emilybookedup*

How to Choose the Perfect Book

Now that your book club has participants (yay!), next comes the exciting part of picking the perfect book. There are several ways of doing this and it’s all about finding what works best for your group. It works for some to select a certain genre for a particular month and have attendees vote on their favorite book choice. Another option is having everyone submit a non-genre-specific suggestion and then vote from there.

Some book clubs allow the host of that meeting to either pick the book or select the options for voting. Additionally, a great way to get book ideas is by following some social media accounts that are dedicated to books. Think your local library or bookstore, book bloggers, or Reese’s Book Club, which was created by Reese Witherspoon and highlights a book recommendation each month.

How to Prepare for an Interesting and Engaging Discussion

After solidifying your group, picking a read, and planning your meet-up, the next step to hosting an engaging book club is preparing some interesting discussion questions. Fortunately, many books will actually come with book club questions within them at the end. If not, a quick Google search is sure to bring up some promising results. Another option is writing down questions of your own either as you’re reading or after you’ve finished while the story is still fresh. Or, ask the other members for input before the meeting!

If you want to go all out, put together a simple slideshow presentation of the questions using templates in Google Slides or Canva. This not only makes the discussion more fun, but having the questions front and center can also be handy as lively conversations can sometimes veer off topic and you may find yourself in a “what was the question again?” situation.

yellowface book — *Source: @bookswithsyd*

What to Serve While Hosting

We love book clubs because, well, reading is fun! But we also love book clubs because they give us an opportunity to get together with friends and serve as a break from everyday stressors and to-do lists. But even with a great group, an awesome book, and an engaging discussion, a truly perfect get-together still needs delicious snacks and refreshments.

If you’re hosting book club, be sure to serve a few easy-to-eat snacks like a charcuterie board, chips and dip, and/or your favorite frozen appetizers. And, when it comes to drinks, we suggest turning to our favorite wine brand, La Crema, for tasty white wines, savory red wines, and refreshing rosés.

If your group would enjoy white wine, look no further than La Crema’s 2021 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay. We all love a rich chardonnay, but we especially love La Crema’s variation because of how its juicy and lingering finish hits the spot—particularly when paired with a creamy or shellfish-based appetizer. If you’re looking for something a little more vibrant, opt for La Crema’s 2022 Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc—a crisp, refreshing white where ruby grapefruit, kiwi, and white peach flavors meet tropical notes of mango and guava. Either option is sure to help the book-club discussion flow!

When it comes to red wine options, we recommend La Crema’s smokey and refreshing 2022 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir with flavors of red cherry, plum, and boysenberry. Pinot Noir is known for being bold and flirtatious, which makes it a must when discussing any romance-related book club tea. For the gals on your guest list who prefer a pink, fruity rosé in their glass, serve the brand’s 2022 Monterey Pinot Noir Rosé which will pair well with anything on your TBR list.

Shop our go-to La Crema wines on InstaCart to get them delivered straight to your door in time for dinner tonight! And if you’re leaning towards strictly Rosé to serve at your next book club, use code LCEVERYMOM to receive 15% off + free shipping when you order four or more bottles from the La Crema site!