One of the greatest avenues to meet new dynamic interesting people and to grow in your own knowledge and wisdom is to join or create a book club.

You can join or begin an online book club, like Goodreads.com, or a traditional book club. There is no substitute for the face to face interaction, fun and personal sharing of a traditional book club. Do some research in your neighborhood or at your office and see if there is already a book club you can join if you need to create one. You can visit Meetup.com for people in your area who may be interested in starting a book club.

The Steps to Create Your Book Club

1. Recruit members. A goal of eight people is perfect. Then when someone can’t show up there is still a good number to discuss the book. You can recruit by posting flyers at local grocery stores, pharmacies, houses of worship, community centers or at work. You can also recruit from coworkers, friends, and neighbors.
2. Guidelines. Get your group together and choose a good day, time for everyone involved and the frequency of the meetings. Also, decide on the length of the meeting each time you meet.
3. Location. You may want to meet in someone’s home or you can meet at a local library, community center or house of worship.
4. Choosing your books. Agree on the procedure on how to choose what you will read. Do you want to choose a particular genre, classics, self-help, a particular author, or an open variety of mindful books? Do you want to vote on each title or have each person in the group choose a book they love and take turns? How far out do you want to choose books, maybe a year at a time so people can read ahead or schedule their time? The quality of the books you read is essential, so take some time deciding how to choose your books.
5. A rich and rewarding experience. Many people have been in book clubs their entire lives and have long-term friendships and continue to be interesting and curious as they age.