海角大神

On the first or second Tuesday of each month, Sarah gets together with several women for a book club meeting. Each month, they select a book together, read it, then come together the following month to share their thoughts on it.

Over time, the book club has really turned into much more than that. It鈥檚 now a social club, at least to a certain extent. They usually have a potluck dinner of some kind and after an hour or so of book discussion, the conversation usually turns to life issues. Often, they鈥檒l stay up rather late, just sitting around and enjoying each other鈥檚 company.

From my own experience, I was in a men鈥檚 book club for several months (before approximately half the membership had their jobs relocated and the club fell into disarray), as well as a long-time member of a science fiction and fantasy book club when I was in college.

In each case, the story was the same: it was a wonderful way to meet people with common interests for virtually no cost at all.

Most of the time, when a new book for her book club is announced, Sarah will quickly check the local libraries for it and check the book out for a reading, so it鈥檚 rare that she actually has to buy the book for her club. In the case of my other book clubs, they generally had arrangements with libraries to have enough copies for everyone to easily check out. So, there鈥檚 usually no expense related to the book.

The book itself usually provides quite a few hours of virtually free entertainment as you read it. I鈥檝e found that when I read a book for a book club, I often find myself thinking about the book more, since I鈥檓 considering the discussion we鈥檙e going to have about it. This just adds to the pleasure of the preparation.

Unless you happen to be hosting the book club meeting, the club meetings are generally free. Very few book clubs charge members to join (unless you鈥檙e receiving copies of the books as part of the membership). Often, that also means free refreshments and possibly even a light meal (as has been the case with Sarah鈥檚 club and my previous clubs).

The meetings themselves are wonderful, too, as you鈥檙e spending time with like-minded people all discussing the same book. There鈥檚 really not much need for icebreaking as there鈥檚 a very specific topic of conversation right there in front of everyone.

Book clubs can open the door to new interests. I discovered several of my favorite authors via book clubs 鈥� Kim Stanley Robinson and China Mieville immediately come to mind, for example. I鈥檝e read books that I would likely have never read otherwise and found that I enjoyed them greatly, too 鈥撀�Lord Jim听产测 Joseph Conrad is one example.

Book clubs can often be the foundation of strong personal relationships. Sarah has strengthened one of her key friendships and began to build several others thanks to her book club. I鈥檓 still friends with two or three people I met via book clubs a decade ago.

To put it simply, being in a book club provides value in many different aspects of life while costing next to nothing. If you have any interest in reading, look for a book club in your area. You鈥檒l be glad you did.

This post is part of a yearlong series called 鈥�365 Ways to Live Cheap (Revisited),鈥� in which I鈥檓 revisiting the entries from my book 鈥�365 Ways to Live Cheap,鈥� which is available聽at Amazon聽and at bookstores everywhere.