Having held their two-person 鈥� plus listeners 鈥� book club this past summer, host Scott Tong and Here & Now鈥�s go-to book expert, Traci Thomas of 鈥淭he Stacks鈥� podcast, discuss how to run a successful book club.
9 questions with Traci Thomas
You and I have other book clubs, and I want to run this observation by you. Typically, we let anybody who wants to jump in jump in. If certain people say they like or don鈥檛 like the book, I wonder if there鈥檚 a kind of social pressure to follow the leader, you know what I mean?
鈥淵eah, for sure. The first person who talks kind of sets the tone for the whole book club. One of the ways that I get around that with my book club is I ask questions that invite dissent. So I鈥檒l say, 鈥榃hat did people think of the book, who loved it, who hated it?鈥� Or if we get off on a tangent, someone [says] how much they didn鈥檛 like the book, then I鈥檒l follow up and say, 鈥極K, who here really liked it?鈥� and kind of open it up, bring in that other opinion.鈥�
And is it important to do that early, maybe write down all the points people want to make before people talk?
鈥淵es. When I kick off my book club, we always start in the same spot, which is, 鈥榃hat do people want to talk about today?鈥� And I write a little list of notes鈥� It鈥檚 something that I can refer back to as the leader of the book club, because I run a book club that has a leader.. .And then I also open it up pretty quickly to, 鈥榃hat did we like? what we didn鈥檛 like?鈥� so that people have a space to share any opinion that kind of falls on that spectrum.鈥�
And how do you make sure that everybody who wants to talk actually talks? My book club has people who are on the quieter side and yet can be really interesting when they do talk.
鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a few ways to do it. For my book club, I tell people, 鈥業鈥檓 going to call on you if I don鈥檛 hear from you today. So, you should speak when you have something to say.鈥� I know a lot of people don鈥檛 like to be called on. It鈥檚 definitely giving second-grade teacher vibes. But the other thing you can do, which I always do at the end, is say, 鈥業s there anything else we didn鈥檛 talk about that someone鈥檚 just dying to talk about?鈥� And almost always, the really quiet person in the corner will sort of speak up and have the most profound statement of the entire night.鈥�
If somebody really doesn鈥檛 like the book, should they be obligated to finish it?
鈥淣o, I don鈥檛 think so. I think if you can articulate what it is that you didn鈥檛 like about the book, you should definitely stop and read something else. I think having that dissenting opinion is wonderful, and the reasons why you maybe quit the book or didn鈥檛 like the book leads to a lot of really great conversation. It might be, 鈥業 found the character was so annoying鈥� and that opens up someone else to say, 鈥榃ell, actually what I related to about the character is X, Y, and Z.鈥� So sometimes having a really strong reaction to a book that is negative is as productive, if you will, as having a really positive reaction to a book.鈥�
What about picking books? Our group tends to do it a year in advance; we pick 12. Sometimes we vote, one person brings 2 or 3, and kind of lobbies for them, and then we vote. Other times, we鈥檝e had each person just pick one, and then we just do that. What do you suggest?
鈥淚t really depends on your book club. I do like the idea that everyone brings a book and everyone votes, and whichever book wins, wins. My aunt鈥檚 book club, they pick 3 themes for the year, and they read a book for that theme. So it鈥檚 a total of 4 books on one topic, but it rotates throughout the year. So you鈥檙e sort of doing these deep dives, and they curate it in a much more intentional way.
鈥淚 know there are book clubs that if you host, you get to pick the book. Or if you host, you pick 3 books and everybody else votes on that. I like the option of bringing a few and then voting, but I think there鈥檚 endless ways to do it. Even collecting a list as a book club, as a group, and kind of just working your way through it, or writing [down] all the books on the list and doing a random number generator and picking that way鈥� I think they all work, [it] just depends on the vibe of your group.鈥�
Do you think it鈥檚 important to read a book first before suggesting it to the book club?
鈥淚 do not think so. I think that is only important if you are Reese鈥檚 Book Club and you are trying to tell millions of people to read one book, and you want to option it into a film. I think otherwise, you could pick whatever.
鈥淚f you have sensitive material in a book and you have someone in your book club that you know is particularly sensitive to that material, it might be worth vetting. But I think generally, it鈥檚 OK to all kind of go in and say, 鈥業 heard about this book. It sounds really good. I want to read it. Let鈥檚 read it together.鈥� And if the group agrees, I think that鈥檚 totally fine.鈥�
Do you think about what a good group size is, whether to invite new members, when it鈥檚 enough voices, and maybe you have to start a new group?
鈥淚 do think that you have to be careful of how big or how small the group gets, but I don鈥檛 know that there鈥檚 one set number. I think it does depend on how talkative the people are in your group. I think what鈥檚 more important is how well the group meshes, that there鈥檚 enough people that know each other, so it doesn鈥檛 feel like, 鈥榤y random friend just showed up and nobody knows him,鈥� and it鈥檚 awkward, but that everybody sort of is welcoming and open.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if I would do a spinoff book club, like if our book club got too big, you know, 鈥�12 people we鈥檙e starting branch B.鈥� I don鈥檛 know that I would do that, but I think鈥� life happens, right? People ebb and flow from their book club. Someone is in a busy season of their life, and they can鈥檛 come, and somebody else comes in and, you know, the next person moves out of town. So, I think, like most things in life that we deal with, it鈥檚 the ins and outs.鈥�
For people who are considering starting a book club, do you need a certain number of people?
鈥淢y first ever book club that I ever did was just me and one other friend. We would pick a book that we both really wanted to read, and we would read it, and鈥� once we both finished that, we would meet at Chipotle. And that鈥檚 what we did for a few years. It was just the two of us. I know couples who have book clubs with each other. So I think 2 people is fine, but I think ideally 5 or 6 would be a great place to start.
鈥淎nd you can invite people from different parts of your life, if you鈥檙e trying to build community, or maybe it鈥檚 people who all have a common interest that you share, and your reading starts from that space. I think there are a lot of different ways to start and being intentional about how you鈥檙e coming together and why you鈥檙e coming together can really set your book club off on the right path.鈥�
Traci, one last question about book clubs that have been around for a while, including the one I鈥檓 in. We鈥檙e friends, so there can be a lot of social catching up, versus getting to the book. And there are some people who want to be social and other people who want to get quickly to the book. How do you navigate that?
鈥淚鈥檓 a mother of 5-year-old children, so I鈥檓 a big fan of the timer. I know it鈥檚 a little rigid, but I think setting a timer and saying, 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to do pleasantries for the first 10, 15 minutes,鈥� check in, set the timer, and that is your official start of your gathering. You do book club for, say, 45 minutes, and then the rest of the time you can hang out. If it goes over, it goes over. But having that sort of clear beginning and end to the actual book club will have people focusing on the book, and then you have time on either side to do whatever else you want to do.
鈥淭hat being said, some people only want to go to book club to be social, and that鈥檚 totally fine. As long as the expectations are clear. I have a lot of friends who are in a book club, and they always say, 鈥榃e鈥檙e in a book club, we never talk about the book. And everybody knows it. And that鈥檚 fine.鈥� So I think as long as you鈥檙e setting up expectations and sort of setting a clear ritual or something around the time that you talk about the book, I think that鈥檚 a wonderful way to do it.鈥�
This interview has been edited for clarity.
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