Summary and Reviews of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting a Reading Group by Patrick Sauer

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting a Reading Group by Patrick Sauer

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting a Reading Group

by Patrick Sauer
  • Paperback:
  • Nov 1999, 359 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting a Reading Group is every book lover's guide to putting together a group and having successful discussions -- or knowing where to find an existing group.

You don't have to be a talk show host to have a group that keeps everybody reading! You're no idiot, of course. You know that people across the nation are getting together, swapping ideas, and sharing their love of literature. You also know how enjoyable it is when you and a friend have read the same book and spend hours discussing it. But when it comes to actually starting or joining a reading group, you feel like you can't tell a metaphor from a simile.

Don't go on reading in solitude! The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting a Reading Group is every book lover's guide to putting together a group and having successful discussions -- or knowing where to find an existing group. In the Complete Idiot's Guide, you get:

  • Step-by-step guidelines for choosing participants and possible club genres: History? Women's Literature? Mysteries? The Classics?
  • a wealth of book titles and capsule descriptions in a wide array of categories to help you choose what to read.
  • Enlightened ideas for ground rules, initiating discussions, giving everyone a chance to speak, and keeping disagreements under control!
  • Fun ideas for literary parties, day trips, outings -- even meeting and discussing online!

Contents
Part 1: Reading Groups: Singles Bars for the Next Century
Part 2: Behold, the Beauty of Discussion
Part 3: Have We Got the Group for You
Part 4: Tailoring Your Group Like a Fine Suit
Part 5: My Group Wants to Party All the Time
Appendix

Note:
BookBrowse selects from the best and most popular books and features a substantial excerpt of each, usually a full chapter.

The excerptions to this rule are a handful of 'reading guide' books (including this title). In this case, BookBrowse has included the book even though an excerpt was unavailable because we feel it has a contribution to make to this relatively specialized category.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

Author Blurb Ray Saurez, Senior Correspondent, The NewsHour, and author
... a potent tool for taking back the love of reading from the experts. In a clear, forthright, and often very funny way, it walks you step-by-step through the process of setting up a successful group.

Reader Reviews

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting a Reading Group, try these:

  • The Book Group Book jacket

    The Book Group Book

    by Ellen Slezak

    Published 2000

    About this book

    Seventeen new essays and 37 new book lists have been added to this classic primer on book groups. Forty-six essays describe how individual groups are organized and portray their strengths, weaknesses, and unique characters.


Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

Books with similar themes


Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!
Win This Book
Win Theo of Golden

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…

Enter

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    Chelsea Girls
    by Catherine Lloyd
    A glamorous biographical novel on Mary Quant, whose daring design of the miniskirt revolutionized fashion.
  • Book Jacket
    Days of Sun and Shadow
    by India Hayford
    A young woman’s coming-of-age story set in the early American frontier, shaped by tragedy, nature, and resilience.
  • Book Jacket
    Merry-Go-Round Broke Down
    by David Woo, Margalit Shinar
    Nine linked stories reveal how globalization sparks life-changing consequences across continents.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    Summer of Love
    by Kerri Maher
    Three women reshape their family's Napa Valley winery after the 1967 Summer of Love.
  • Book Jacket
    An Infinite Love Story
    by Chanel Cleeton
    “A tender, romantic drama that soars as high as it’s astronauts.” —Kate Quinn
Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

The C is A R

and be entered to win..