The Inverted Book Club

Some readers pick up a reader and read it cover to cover, without straying into other books. Normal book clubs are ideal for such people. It allows them to commit to reading one book per month, and discussing it with others.

People like me prefer to buy plenty of books, and start reading one book before switching to a second, and then a third, and then a fourth. We read books as if we were watching two or three television series on TV. We watch an episode or two, and then we move on.

When someone like me is in a book club I need to change my primary reading habit- I need to commit to reading the chosen book. If I see another book that catches my eye then I need to show the discipline to read it in full.

I have been questioning whether being part of a book club means that I read less, rather than more. I already had a good reading habit.

To some degree the inverted book club is far more interesting for my character. It gives us the opportunity to read multiple books at once, and if we finish them then that’s great, but if we enjoy them then that is better. If we enjoy them then we finish them, but more importantly we have something to talk about.

In the normal book club there are questions that everyone can answer about a specific book. In the inverted book club everyone can speak about their current book, and people can ask questions about that book, or that author.

The other advantage of the Inverted Book Club is that you can meet every week, especially if you read multiple books. You don’t need to give people a month to read a book, before it is discussed. The group can meet weekly.

Through going to an inverted book group you can hear about authors and books that you would not otherwise encounter. It is easy to go to Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm and other places and see the top sellers, rather than books you are interested in.

And Finally I like the freedom to read, and discuss everything for a reasonable two minutes per book. Reading a single book is fun, for some, but I quite enjoy the freedom of reading a multitude of books, and finishing books when I finish them.