You may have started a brand new Reading Group and are looking
for ideas to make it fun and exciting. Well look no further, because
we at Random House have come up with a few suggestions to give
your reading group that extra bit of sparkle!
Food for Thought
If you are hosting a Reading Group in your own home, why not try
making a few party snacks and/or cocktails yourself? If the book
you are reading is set in a particular country or era, you could
theme the refreshments to match the feel of the book. For example,
if you were reading Out
by Natsuo
Kirino, you could make a few Japanese snacks and drinks to
give the evening an Oriental feel. This will really help your
reading group to immerse themselves in the culture of the novel.
Have a look at our Host
with the Most page for ideas!
Filmic Quality
With so many film adaptations around, it may be interesting to
read a book as a group, then watch the adaptation together and
compare the two. No doubt everyone will have their own opinion,
which will make for a lively discussion. Things to focus on could
include main differences between the book and the film, portrayal
of character and place, and whether the film did the book justice
- which did your members enjoy more? Here are a few film adaptations
your group might enjoy:
Trainspotting
by Irvine
Welsh
LA
Confidential by James
Ellroy
Memoirs
of a Geisha by Arthur
Golden
Flags
of Our Fathers by James
Bradley
Fight
Club by Chuck
Palahniuk
Practical
Magic by Alice
Hoffman
Lolita by Vladimir
Nabokov
Catch
22 by Joseph
Heller
To
Kill a Mockingbird by Harper
Lee
Set List
This works particularly well if you are starting a new reading
group. The idea is that everyone in the group nominates a book
that they'd really like to read, which has two benefits - your
group ends up with a 'set list' lasting a year or more, and every
member gets to discuss a book they really wanted to read.
A Common Theme
In connection to the above, why not nominate a theme for the year,
and ask members of the group to nominate a book related to that
theme? You could also focus on a particular author over a period
of time, looking at several of his or her books and tracing their
progression as an author. Authors to try could include Virginia
Woolf, Angela
Carter, Haruki
Murakami and Alice
Hoffman.
A Different Approach
Instead of reading novels or fiction all of the time, it might
be a refreshing change for your reading group to try some poetry
or drama. With poetry, you could try reading it aloud in the group
and discussing the style and tone of the poetry. With plays, your
group could see a live production of the play and compare the
play with the director's interpretation. Many authors have experimented
with different genres, so it may also be interesting to compare
the style of their different works.
Branching Out
Stuck for what to read next? Why not try something completely
different, that no one in your reading group has tried or even
heard of before? There are many websites out there designed to
help readers choose their next book, a selection of the best ones
can be found below:
www.whichbook.net
Books arranged by genre, choose according to your mood!
http://askchris.essexcc.gov.uk/adult/welcome.asp
Recommendations from readers and reading groups across Essex
www.reader2reader.net/
A site for readers to share opinions about books
