Book Club Report: Year One

I'm pleased to report that year one of the No Wine Or Whiners book club exceeded my expectations. We've averaged about eight people per meeting, and the month-to-month toggling from novel to non-fiction is working as I anticipated it might - our percentage of men is higher than any other club I've been involved with. Our first meeting in 2018 was a 50-50 gender split; unusual, in my experience.  

My favorite part? Four of the five women who make up my reading posse are involved to varying degrees; my wife missed just one meeting. I'm prospecting all the time because, from the outset, I was confident the club would have drop-offs on our maiden voyage; 2017 had at least one. But as long as I continue to paint an accurate picture so prospects know what to expect, with a solid first year behind us, I'm now also confident the club will continue to thrive; our core is solid.

Gathering all those best practices from the twenty or so clubs I was part of from 2010-2016 turned out to be a wise strategy. Some of the feedback sheets returned to me after the December meeting also gave me ideas for selections for the coming years. Of those that I've since read, Lily King's 2014 novel "Euphoria" is now in the queue this fall. Books good enough for No Wine Or Whiners could easily become the subject of a future blog post, so for readers not in the club, stay tuned for more on "Euphoria". Me? I've got a rich conversation to look forward to.