{"id":139,"date":"2025-04-28T09:20:50","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T14:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/?p=139"},"modified":"2025-11-23T13:42:51","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T19:42:51","slug":"to-book-club-or-not-to-book-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/?p=139","title":{"rendered":"To Book Club or Not to Book Club"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2016, Penguin Random House performed a survey amongst readers (so the results aren\u2019t statistically accurate across readers and<\/strong> non-readers), and of those self-reported readers, 63% are part of a book club (source: \u201cThe State of the Book Club, https:\/\/authornews.penguinrandomhouse.com\/the-state-of-the-book-club\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why I Joined a Book Club (and What It Was Like)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been part of one book club in my life, so I have limited knowledge of how different book clubs operate. The book club I was in was based in a church group, and anyone could join. The book was Redeeming Love<\/a><\/em> by Francine Rivers. The format of this book club was such: Everyone read the book (or not, if you just wanted to socialize), meet once over refreshments, and then attend the movie together at a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As someone who had never been in a book club and had limited availability to meet multiple times, I thought this sounded like a great way to test the water. I had already read the book a long time ago, but it had a resurgence since it was being turned into a movie. I love everything Francine Rivers writes, and it was nice to circle back to a book I hadn\u2019t read in over a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like I said, this book club was part of a church group, but not my church, so I didn\u2019t know anyone. I feel a bit socially awkward in new settings (and I\u2019m an introvert), so I didn\u2019t join in the conversation very much. But I enjoyed listening to other people talk about it and hearing their take on the book. I also attended the movie with the group. Overall, it was a positive experience, and I\u2019m glad I did it. It\u2019s good to get out of my comfort zone every once in a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting Book Club Statistics from Penguin Random House<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While writing this, I came across some interesting information in the same article I mentioned above that might be interesting to you as well. Below is a chart showing the different genres and their popularity in book clubs. I\u2019m not surprised that Fiction is the leader at 80%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I also thought it was interesting to see how people are influenced to join a book club:<\/p>\n\n\n\n