Love to Read? Share Your Passion with a Virtual Book Club

Love to Read? Share Your Passion with a Virtual Book Club 

If you love to read, you have a world of books at your disposal, but just as importantly, you have a simple way to share your passion for reading. The internet provides an easy way to find great books and a simple way to share your favorite books with others. As an avid reader, you may have once been a member of a book club. Maybe you still do participate in a book club or two. But getting everyone together in real life can be difficult and problematic, as busy schedules, home improvement projects and other impediments get in the way. Wouldn't it be nice if you could talk books without driving to someone's home or dealing with real-world problems, like traffic and timetable) avid readers to get together on their own schedule, where they can talk about their favorite books, make recommendations to fellow members and share honest reactions to the recommendations of their real-world and online friends.

The first step to creating a virtual book club is to find the right platform, but that is easy enough these days. There are plenty of great online venues for clubs of all kinds, so just choose your favorite and start building your membership. You can start building membership for your virtual book club by making a list of your most literate friends. Ask those friends to join your club, then ask them to tell their friends about it, and so on.
 

The great thing about building a virtual community is that it connects you with people you may never have met in real life. Once your membership is established, it is time to find some great books. There are several ways to start this process, and all are equally valid. In the world of literature and literary criticism, there is no one right answer, but these ideas can get you started. Start with the books you love. After all, it is your book club. Scour the bestseller lists in search of books you have not yet read or heard about.

Listen to the radio and take note of author interviews and book reviews. Ask the members of your group for a list of their favorite books. Use that list to start your book club discussions. Grab an old book of your shelf, preferably one you have not read for a while. Seek out books that already contain discussion guide or book club suggestions. This will give you a head start on your own discussions.

Once you have a suitable list of books to start with, you can pass that information along to your virtual book dub members. Set a reasonable time frame for reading the first book on the list, keeping in mind that everyone's schedules are different. some people may be able to finish the book in a couple of days, while others may need a week or more, especially if they are busy and have limited time to read. The beauty of an online book club is that it can proceed at its own pace.