10 Questions to Ask at Your First Book Club Meeting

Your first book club meeting has a strange shape to it. You have read the book, or half of it, or you read it in a rush at the weekend and can only remember the ending. You know nobody's name. Someone hands you a glass and asks what you thought, and you realise you have spent the last week worrying about the wrong thing entirely.

The book is only half the meeting. The other half is the people, and the fastest way to settle into a new group is to ask a few good questions rather than deliver a few clever opinions. Below is a set of conversation starters that work for almost any group, whether you are joining a long-established circle in someone's front room or turning up to a brand-new one in a pub corner.

Why Questions Beat Opinions in the First Meeting

New members often arrive braced to defend a view of the book. That instinct is understandable and mostly unnecessary. In a group that has been running for a while, the regulars already know how each other reads and argues. What they do not know is you, and what you are likely to enjoy next.

Questions do two jobs at once. They take the pressure off you, and they give other people something easy to answer. A good question is generous: it lets someone talk about a book they love, which is usually the reason they joined in the first place. Aim to ask three or four across the evening rather than running through a list like a quizmaster.

Five Questions to Break the Ice

• "What have you just finished?" Better than asking for a favourite book, which can make people freeze. Everyone can answer this one, and it tells you what they actually read rather than what they think they should.
• "How did you end up in this group?" The answers are surprisingly good. Someone founded it twenty years ago; someone else was dragged along by a flatmate and stayed.
• "What's the book you press on other people?" This one gets hands moving. Expect a range from crime to nature writing, and expect at least one person to apologise for their answer.
• "Where do you do most of your reading?" Light, specific and odd enough to be memorable. Buses, baths, the twenty minutes before sleep, a kitchen table at six in the morning.
• "What's on your bedside table at the moment?" A gentler version of the first question, and a good way to find out whether you are among people who finish one book at a time or five at once.

Five Questions About Reading Tastes

These are the ones worth asking if you would like a say in what the group reads next, or if you simply want to know whether you have landed somewhere that suits you.

1. "What's the last book that kept you up too late?" Reveals who likes plot, who likes atmosphere, and who will happily read six hundred pages if the voice is right.
2. "Is there a genre you will always say yes to, and one you would happily never read again?" The second half is more useful than the first. A group where three people dislike historical fiction will pick differently from one where three people adore it.
3. "Do you finish books you are not enjoying?" This matters enormously. It tells you how people will behave when the group picks something difficult, and how honest they are likely to be about it.
4. "Have you read anything recently you would never have chosen yourself?" A quiet way of asking how adventurous the group is. If the answers are all from the same bestseller table, you know what to expect.
5. "How do you decide what to read next?" Reviews, a friend's recommendation, the library shelf, whatever is on offer in a charity shop. Often the most revealing question of the five.

Questions About How the Group Actually Runs

Taste is the enjoyable half. The practical half is what keeps you coming back, and it is worth asking about early rather than discovering it in month four.

• How are books chosen — a vote, a rota, or whoever is hosting?
• Does everyone finish the book, or is there an accepted rule that some months people arrive having skimmed?
• Do you plan a few months ahead, or pick the next one at the end of the meeting?
• Are there months you skip, and does the group take a break over the summer or in December?
• How does the hosting side work — venue, drinks, who brings what?
• How long is a typical meeting, and does anyone mind if someone slips away early?

If the Group Is Brand New

Founding members have a slightly different set of questions to ask, because nothing is settled yet. What sort of group do we want: strictly literary, happily broad, or somewhere in between? How often shall we meet, and is a month realistic? Will we stick to fiction, or mix in non-fiction and poetry? And the one everyone avoids: what happens when nobody liked the book?

Reading the Room

Ask one question, then listen properly to the whole answer before reaching for the next. Follow up on a detail — the author's other books, the bit they mentioned about the ending — rather than moving straight on. That is the difference between being curious and conducting an interview.

If you are nervous, write two questions down before you go and leave the rest. You will almost certainly be asked what you thought of the book, so have one honest sentence ready, and it is entirely fine to say you have not finished it yet. If the meeting is loud and scattered, catch the organiser at the end with your practical questions. They will be pleased someone is interested.

Your Printable Checklist

Print this, fold it into the back of the book, and glance at it on the way. You will not need all ten, and you may well use none of them exactly as written.

1. What have you just finished?
2. How did you end up in this group?
3. What's the book you press on other people?
4. Where do you do most of your reading?
5. What's on your bedside table?
6. What was the last book that kept you up too late?
7. Which genre will you always say yes to — and which one never again?
8. Do you finish books you are not enjoying?
9. How are books chosen, and how far ahead do you plan?
10. What happens when nobody liked the book?

Then put the paper away. The best first meeting is not one where you asked everything, but one where you left knowing two names, one recommendation, and the date of the next meeting.

Photo: DariuszSankowski / Pixabay