I currently head up two book clubs, one that I started recently and one that has been going for 6 1/2 years now.

In the older one, we tried many ways of picking books-- we started by taking turns hosting the meeting and choosing the book. We did the "draw books out of a hat" thing. We tried various voting methods.

We finally settled on the one we're using now (and I've also adopted for my other book club). Everyone nominates 2-3 books, depending on how many people will actually nominate and how many choices we want. Once we have the slate of books, everyone has 10 points to distribute between the books. You can give 2 books 5 points each. Or 5 books 2 points each. You can rank books 1-2-3-4 by giving them 4-3-2-1 points. Or whatever else works for you.

We aim to pick 6 months of books at a time, but there is usually a clear break point in the pattern, and we work with that, wherever it is.

I just thought I'd share, since it works well for us.

Laura

I have moderated an online reading group on Roman history since 1995 that has had various incarnations as the Internet evolved. (We started out on AOL when it was still community minded, our most recent place was an AIM chat room which suddenly got very unreliable, and now we are trying Google Talk.)

What has not changed is how we select our books (fiction, nonfiction, mysteries, ancient poets and historians). We decide on an annual list. Members submit suggestions and I cull the list, looking a) at a good mix; and b) availability of the book. Not everyone can afford to buy them, and their library may not have them so it might have to be an inter-library loan. I submit the final list back for approval. The 'once a year' works well, some people put selected book on their Holiday wish list.

A new fiction or mystery book has to be at least one year on the market, which also can mean that the cheaper paperback version has been published. But members also recommend vintage fiction. Those books though are sometimes difficult to get, so it's a tough decision.

I do have a blog where I and another member of the group post background information on each book before the chat, among other things.

OTOH:

I'm a recent and occasional member at one of the reading groups of our local library system, and the moderating librarian selects the books. I don't like that at all, and one of the members whom I know recently confided that she doesn't like that either, but it appears that no one speaks up!

It's pretty funny how you choose books. I do believe that everybody has their way or style of picking up books but I like your way.

Ninie

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