Loving Book Clubs: Musing Mondays

Another Musing Mondays prompt from Should be Reading:

Do you belong to any book clubs — face-to-face, or online? If so, how long have you been with the group(s)? If not, why?

I have belonged to an in-person book club for the last ten years, and I love it so much that I always hate to miss it. You see, I'm addicted to books, so I need to be surrounded by people with the same addiction so we can support one another.

Unfortunately, I also move a lot. I moved to Maryland a year and a half ago, and one of the very first things I did was find a new book club. To me, it's like finding a Mom's group... you immediately have something in common with every single member of the group. You may never agree on a particular book, similar to a parenting style for Mom's groups, but you respect the people around you and sometimes even rethink your own opinion.

Being a book club member has helped me learn to appreciate all genres, as well as teaching me how to analyze a book while I'm reading it. Plus, I love hearing others' opinions and discovering aspects of a book I might have missed.

I have never joined an online book club, however. It could be fun. Anybody tried this? If so, where do you find a group?

Trust Your Friends for the Best Books: Musing Mondays

Another wonderful Musing Mondays prompt from Should be Reading:

How do you decide to read a book by an author you haven’t read before? What sort of recommendations count most highly in making that decision?

I've said it many times... book clubs are an amazing resource for book recommendations. I love to read different genres and authors; I'm all about the experimentation. Before book clubs, I'd search through book stores. Sometimes it was a cover that attracted me, other times I'd look at the employee recommendations highlighted.

When I started going to book clubs, one of my favorite parts was the once or twice a year meeting where everyone brought books to offer as selections for the next year's reading list. We'd pass them around and hear people tell how much they loved them or why they were excited to read a certain author. Then it was time to vote. I would scribble down authors and titles like mad. In the end, we could only pick twelve books, but I always walked away with many more to read.

My new book club has a wonderful method for selecting books. Once a year we have a potluck and bring three book suggestions each. On a piece of paper, you print the synopsis, book title, author name, length of book, and why you are recommending it. You then make enough copies for everyone to take one home. I walked home with almost 40 recommendations. Then we went online, aren't we cool!, and voted on our top twelve.

This year, I was honored that my book, Depression Cookies, was chosen. We also chose another local author, Kathryn Johnson. I really enjoyed her novel, The Gentleman Poet. See my review here.

Since I self-published, I try to incorporate a lot of indie and small press reading. I've been amazed at the wonderful stories and quality work. I've met some amazing writers, giving people who hold nothing back, who truly seem interested in others' success as well as their own. I'm thankful to have found this new treasure chest of books.

What's your favorite source for a good book?