My bookclub takes trips in August for a weekend.

Our first trip was to Las Vegas, then New Orleans, San Francisco, and this year we're headed to Boston. We started theming our book selections for August to fit the trips we take. For New Orleans, we read Anne Rice, Interview with a Vampire, for SF, we read Amy Tan, Joy Luck Club. For August, our member is choosing a book by an author who's hometown is in Boston.

It's a great getaway once a year for us girls to bond. We've got 11 members ranging between 40's-50's and we usually get about 9-10 people than can make our trips.

Just wanted to share our idea with you.

We had a trip planned to go to Savannah Georgia after reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil but we ended up not being able to go. It was a good idea though.

Yep Sandy, that's on my agenda one of these years too. I looooved that book. I went to Savannah with my husband a few years back and it's a beautiful place. Would love to go with my bookclub someday.

Great ideas! We've done the book/movie outings a few times but this would be even more fun.

Wow! A book club that Travels! You must have a super fantastic club!!!

You are SO lucky!

You know, that opens so many local opportunities as well, for clubs who might have different budgets!

Reading something sci-fi? Take a trip to the local planetarium!

Reading about a foreign culture? If you have a version of that ethnic neighborhood nearby, take a trip, visit the cultural center, and eat out; if you live in a place too far from a city that might have such a neighborhood, have a potluch with dishes from that culture.

The travelling tip is such a wonderful one that can be used in so many ways. Thanks for sharing-- I'm off to poke my own group to use it!

A book club in Louisiana, The Cultured Pearls, (don't you love the name?) were selecting their 100th book for their club. They chose one of mine, and to celebrate their accomplishment, they took a road trip to where I live and took me to lunch. We had a ball and the local newspaper came out, took a photo, and did a piece on them. Why not find out where your favorite authors live, make a road trip to them, and celebrate your 50th, 20th, or even 10th book? Authors love dessert!

What an awesome, awesome, idea Bev. I love that. I was thinking of doing that in San Francisco with Amy Tan. But, I figured that was impossible to do so I never tried. Looking back now, I should have given it a try. This also might be fun to do with a local author as well. I'm going to propose this at my next bookclub meeting.

I want to join your club! I would love to be able to take trips with my book group but no one has any interest in doing activities outside the meetings!

Have you gone to Boston yet??
Our book club is about 20 minutes outside of Boston. It would have been fun to meet up...

Let us know how the trip was!
Kel

Five girlfriends & I went to Cape Cod for the weekend. We had such fun together that I missed them terribly when we were home. I asked them if they'd like to start a book group and we get together once every month. This year will be our 5th trip! As an anniversary treat, one other member & I made gift bags, including an adorable silver charm of a bookworm sitting on a book.
When I read Joan Anderson's "A Year By The Sea" I wrote to her to tell her about us. That year we were able to spend the afternoon with her while we were on our annual weekend! ( I found enough copies of the book at my library bookstore, for $1, so we'd read it together!)
As soon as we return from our weekend, we schedule the next year so we can get the same condo. It has a big deck overlooking the ocean where we spend a lot of time when we are not taking looooooooong beach walks.
This website has given me great ideas for games to bring to do together. Last year I had everyone make words from the letters in our names and write a story using those words. This year I'm bringing coloring books, crayons & colored pencils.

quote:

Originally posted by kel-momsread:
Have you gone to Boston yet??
Our book club is about 20 minutes outside of Boston. It would have been fun to meet up...

Let us know how the trip was!
Kel

Hi Kel!
Thanks for asking...yes, we did go on our trip to Boston. There were 9 of us and we had a fantastic time in the city. We stayed at Copley Square which was convenient to everything. We took trolley tours, salem witch tours, walked around the city, went to some great restaurants, saw all the sights, and of course, did some shopping!

We originally were going to pick a book with a Boston theme, but the member that had the selection for this trip, decided to go in another direction and discuss Memory Keeper's Daughter which is about a family with a child born with downs syndrome of which my member has a child with downs. She related to the book completely and wanted us to experience the story with her. So, it was a great choice and seemed to work out beautifully. We all loved the book.

We're working on next year's trip....

Our Book Club, "Happy Bookers", have 11 members. One member hosts the Book Club each month and selects our Book of the Month. In December, we have a social event that includes dinner out at a fine restaurant. One year, we wrote down our favorite author and why we chose them, and put the postings in an envelope. As each comment was read, the group tried to select the member who chose that author.
On another occasion, we had the names of authors or book characters pinned to our back, then asked questions of other members to determine who we were. The names were selected by a non-member, so no one knew the names that were distributed.
One year, we wrote down a "little known fact" about ourselves and then tried to determine which of us had written that down.

This past week, we held a bridal shower for one of our members who is getting re-married. Each of us wore a birdesmaid dress(from the local Good Will store), a tiara and a bow on our backsides. We shared a humorous story about our wedding or honeymoon with each other.

My book club has not been able to get a trip together with all of us yet, but we are trying....only three of us made it to Florida this year.

However, every year on or around our anniversary of the group's inception, we have a special gathering.

The first year we saw Memoirs of a Geisha and then ate at a Japanese Restaurant.

The second year was a sleepover with movies, music, food and drink.

The third year was dinner out, then going out dancing and then home for some nightcaps before crashing.

All were very enjoyable and a nice break for all the ladies in the club.