Welcome to part three of our “How to Book Club'' series! In this segment we will help you choose the best book for your club. From mystery, romance, nonfiction, even fantasy, you may find yourself lost in the endless types of books to choose from. Luckily, the Bookclubz team has many different tips and resources to make narrowing the search a little easier! Throughout this blog post I will take you through some pointers to consider when finding a page-turner that captivates all of your book club members.
Focus on a genre but keep a schedule for mixing it up
A good way to start is to pick a central theme that your whole club enjoys, but also leave some room for variety so you don’t get burnt out. Your club may choose to focus on anything from literary fiction, historical fiction, nonfiction, women writers or even global writers. Make sure to mix it up at times too! You could even try rotating genres each month, or you can even give each member a turn to decide the genre. This way the books you choose to read never feel redundant.
Bookclubz also has the amazing polling feature, where you can collectively decide on a book by voting. This feature allows for everyone to easily share their input on the next book. Just create a poll, upload the books you want to vote on, and let the app do the rest!
The Award Goes To…
Having a hard time figuring out where to even start? Find out what all the buzz is about and try reading some recent award-winning books! You may surprise yourself and find your next favorite author. Our co-founder Anna’s club likes to read the Pulitzer Prize Winner in Fiction each year, but there are many different lists of the winners and shortlisted authors your club should check out like:
- The Man-Booker Prize - Awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland
- The National Book Award - Awarded to American authors in five categories such as fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translation and young people’s literature
- The Nobel Prize in Literature - A swedish award given out annually to an author who has produced outstanding work in the literature field
Be Inspired
Each month the Bookclubz team releases a newsletter with the books that they’ve enjoyed the most. A great way to get inspired is to stay tuned in to our monthly newsletters, blog posts and Instagram posts for more ideas. You can also see what other clubs are reading with the “Top Books” feature at Bookclubz.com, where we reveal what the most read and most popular books are amongst our platform.
Need more resources other than just Bookclubz? You should consider looking into your favorite authors’ recommendations, or listen to literary podcasts like @momsdonthavetimetoreadbooks for more recommendations.
You can also check out different best-sellers lists and book reviews from the New York Times or NPR.