The story goes like this. A woman got brave and started a book club.
By Jennifer Lee
Evening approaches, and I set out steaming tea and homemade pear cake topped with whipped cream. The fireplace flickers as I pass around blankets to each of six book club members huddled onto cozy couches. The women arrive after days of working, mothering, homeschooling, and living full lives.
Some have listened to an audiobook version of the month’s selection — a classic ranging from Jane Austen and Middlemarch to C. S. Lewis and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society — while others have read hardbound editions ordered from Blackwells in England. We catch up, eat delicious treats, escape from ordinary life, and discuss literature, often chatting until near midnight.
I haven’t always had such a rich source of beautiful community. As a military child and then military wife, I’ve begun many other book clubs and gatherings without success. Around COVID and another baby and deployment, all community came to a halt. Trying again felt exhausting. But I couldn’t shake the idea of a book club founded on reaching back to read the classics.
In early 2022, I sent out a text to everyone I could think of, proposing a monthly meeting—one classic work a month, beginning with Anne of Green Gables. Three women showed up that first month, and the second month. But something happened in the third, fourth, and fifth meetings. The group settled into a core of seven, none with any connection to one another other than myself. Maybe it was the power of literature. Most definitely it was a hunger for deep connection (and good food!).
If you have that same hunger, I encourage you to be brave and start with something. Let the Lord bring souls together to build a place for intellectual conversation, good books, and companionship. Here are some suggestions on how to do it.
Step 1: Plan
Imagine your ideal community. Would you prefer to read an entire book each month, or slowly work through a novel? Instead of classic literature, maybe you’d like to start a cookbook club centered around reading and feasting. Should the group be open to newcomers, or limited to a closed roster? Jot down your ideas and create a clear plan.
Step 2: Invite
Send out a casual text, or maybe a printed invitation. If you desire a cozy group where everyone can contribute, keep the numbers around six to eight. Be clear about how often and when you will meet. If you want your group to share a quote or thought from the book, include that and any other meeting details in your invitation.
Step 3: Gather
Put the kettle on and create a welcoming space (indoors or out!). Introduce each person and let them share a little about themselves. Start the discussion with favorite quotes or characters. Allow space before and after the book discussion for visiting and forming relationships. Pray together. Eat good food. Plan future meetings!
Step 4: Enjoy!
Each Christmas, the book club ladies dress up and gather for a lavish dinner. We exchange Christmas ornaments uniquely selected based on our deep relationships with one another. And every year someone comments on the gift this group has become. Yes, we have read through quite a few classics and forged inside jokes and memories (like the time we had to chart the characters of Middlemarch to make sense of all the connections). We have also shared heartaches amidst tears and prayed over one another.
Two years and 24 books later we’ve become a sisterhood. It’s one of my deepest sources of prayer support, encouragement, and the richness of life.
Jennifer Lee lives with her pilot husband, four children, cats Percy and Beatrix, and a dozen or so chickens in Colorado on five acres they've named Hilltop Pines (as a nod to Beatrix Potter and all things English countryside). She has a BA in English Literature and now passes along her love of literature and tea to her children whenever possible. She hosts book club meetings, enjoys long walks, and squeezes in reading, good conversations, and strong tea in teapots whenever possible.