How to Start a Classical Literature Book Club
Book clubs are a great way to incorporate the habit of reading into what might otherwise be a busy and hectic lifestyle. If you plan to read on your own, more often than not you will end up putting it off – however, knowing that you need to read a book so you can participate in a discussion at your book club will certainly serve as a motivator.
While contemporary post-modern literature is all the rage, classical literature has its own charm, and also has the added bonus of motivating readers to put in more effort in order to delve into the past, and understand the context in which it was written. If you are passionate about classical literature, and come across like-minded individuals, you might want to start up a classical literature book club.
Instructions
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Start by outlining the focus of your book club – in this case, classical literature. Come up with an appropriate name for the club, and outline the objectives. Do you plan to steadily work your way through the major classical works? What will be your focus – the history, the settings, the archaic language? Or do you plan to have multiple points to focus on? It is also essential to determine which type of classical literature you plan to read – will you be sticking solely to English, French, or German, etc, or do you plan to incorporate a variety of classical literatures from multiple cultures and languages?
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Once the focus and objective of the book club is clear, it is time to start recruiting members. If you already have a group of friends who want to set up a book club with you, then you are in luck – however, if you are looking for members, try putting up flyers, or advertising online. Circulate emails about your club, and ask your friends and colleagues if they know anyone who might be interested in joining. You can also post about your club on classical literature forums online. However, it would be wise to keep your club on the smaller side (i.e. no more than 6 to 7 members), as larger book club meetings tend to be more of a party and less of a literary discussion.
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After you have recruited enough members to start the club, organise the dates, timings, and venue for the book club meetings. While busy schedules might mean that you will sometimes need to do a bit of juggling as far as date and timings are concerned, it is good to have a fixed date and time that will be easy for everyone to remember – e.g. 5:00pm on the first Wednesday of every month. The venue should also be a place which everyone can reach with ease – usually, book cafes or small cosy coffee houses work best. However, whichever venue you select, be sure to confirm if the management is okay with hosting a book club every month.
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Finally, start holding your meetings, and do not let things get boring. At the end of each meeting, hold discussions on which book your club should read next, and encourage everyone to contribute ideas, and bring along picks for next month. You can also have themed meetings (get everyone to dress up as a character from the work you might be reading), have members read out their favourite passages, incorporate historical facts about the era in which the work was written (in order to build up a sense of context), and even watch movies based on the works you read – after you are done with the book, that is.
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