Katie Book Clubs

Step One: Gather Contacts of Potential Members
You may already have a group of Katies and their bookloving friends who live in your area, but just in case you don't, feel free to contact the Alumnae/i Association Office to assist you in contacting the alumnae/i in your area who may be interested (651-690-6666).

Step Two: Consider the Options
Before you start organizing your group, you may want think about the type of book club you'd like -- different ages and experiences or similar aged individuals; single sex or mixed; mother-daughter; fiction, nonfiction, or both; themed or general; daytime, nightime, weekends, or mixed, etc. If you have set feelings on any of these elements

Step Three: Invite Potential Group Members to An Organizational Meeting
Choose a suitable location -- perhaps a coffee shop, room in your public library, or your home. Send out a mailed or email invite with the time and place and purpose as you envision it. Please let invitees know that this is not an official St. Catherine Alumnae/i Association event, but one of those great ways that Katies find their lives enriched by connecting with other Katies.

You may have a fun, snappy invite. If not, here is a sample invite:

Dear St. Catherine alumna or friend,
I am trying to organize a book club in this area, and since most Katies and their friends love to read and discuss, I thought I'd see if you might be interested in a book club too. [If you intend to have a specific type of book club that meets at specific times, mention it here. Otherwise you could let the people who show up help decide these things.]

If so, please come to:
[Location, with address
Date and Time]

Bring ideas of the kinds of books or titles you'd like to explore, how often to meet, where to meet, and what kind of treats and beverages you'd enjoy (ex. coffee and tea vs wine and pop). This is not a formal group of St. Catherine's or its Alumnae/i Association. It's just a chance for us to connect with the great minds and hearts and literary insights of other Katies and their friends on an informal basis.

Please RSVP to me at: [phone number and email]. Hope to see you there!


Step Four: Meet, Greet, Discuss, Decide
Bring name tags and markers and a pad of paper to take notes to the first meeting. Food and beverages are often essential too, to get people mingling and feeling comfortable.

Some of the things you want to get accomplish include:

• Introductions -- have everyone say who she is, when she went to St. Kate's (or a diffferent school or life experience) and major, what she is doing now.

Then discuss the following questions and come to some decisions:

• What kinds of books are of interest? Fiction, nonfiction, books on food, books by American writers, books by immigrants, books by foreign authors, history, memoir, fantasy, mystery, etc.? Do you want to read books that have just come out or ones that have been out long enough to be affordable in paperback or available in the library?
• How often would you like to meet? Once a month, once every two months, every two weeks, etc.
• Is this a daytime club, night time, weekend, or anytime club? It is often best to pick a similar time every month, say the last Friday of the month, or first Tuesday or something. (You may want to take late December and the summer off, depending on people's availablity.)
• Who hosts/runs the different meetings -- are they always in the same place by the same person, or at different people's homes or places?
• Does the hostess pick the book or everyone?
• Does the hostess serve a meal, treats and beverages, or nothing? Do other members bring the food and beverages? Are alcoholic beverages okay with the group, or not?
• Do you want to have specific book club questions that the group has to adhere to, or just let the discussion flow?

Step Five: Set Up the Next Time, Place, and Book
Before you leave, come to a consensus about the next meeting time and place, the book to read, and who will host. It's often nice to sketch out a six month to one year plan about the books to read, dates, and places.


Step Six: Email/Post the Group's Decisions
You're all set now! Just write up the decisions, and send them out to everyone to post on their refrigerator. The hostesses might want to send out email reminders prior to their meetings. You may even want to set up your own web page to keep everyone up to date, and share tips.

If you need a journal to keep track of your books, you can check out: Reading Group Journal: Notes in the Margins by Martha Burns and Alice Dillon (Abbeyville Press)

ENJOY!!!!



For advice on running a specifically Catholic-themed book club, visit the pages of blog on such clubs "People of the Book: How to Start a Catholic Book Club". It also has great links to Catholic bestseller lists and publishing houses.

Additional tips for starting a book club and finding discussion questions can be found by Erin Collazo Miller at About.Com. For a list of general articles on reading groups, discussion questions, and book clubs, visit... or try Collazo Miller's outline of articles.

RESOURCES FOR TERRIFIC BOOK IDEAS

You can always peruse the lists of Conversation with Books: 2009, 2008, 2007, and Conversation with Books with Friends of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra 2008.

You can also check the book picks of the St. Kate's Library Book Club.
The National Women's Book Association sponsors the National Reading Group Month every October. For a list of their book choices...

American Catholic Magazine offers a monthly book club pick...

Booklist Magazine has a book club resource page as well with recommended picks and discussion questions...

Reading Book Choices is a company dedicated to making up interesting book lists with discussion questions and topics, and they have some great lists, interviews with authors, pairings of book to wine, editorials, reviews, and commentary, etc.. To visit their home page...

BOOKS ABOUT BOOK CLUBS and BOOK LISTS


Bust Lust; More Book Lust; Book Crush all by Nancy Pearl (Sasquatch)

How to Read Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster (Harper Paperback)

Mother-Daughter Book Club by Shireen Dodson (Harper Paperback)