10 Big Reasons to Join a Book Club

I can literally think of dozens of reasons to join a book club, but I am going to give you just my top ten that apply to any club you decide to join. There is no book club norm. Book clubs can be as fun, or serious, or quirky as each group dictates them to be. I mean, book clubs are really just a place to gather with other readers and talk about books, right? But they offer also offer healthful benefits for body and mind. The best advice that I can offer you today is to join without overthinking whether or not you think the group is your perfect fit. Be willing to learn from other people and make connections with people outside of your normal social circle... Which brings us to number one.

1. You Expand Your Circle of Friends

Most likely you are already discussing your favorite books with your current circle of friends, so why not expand on your pool of friends while allowing for a fuller experience by joining a book club that is not full of your best friends. Since we tend to gravitate to likeminded people, a book club can help you draw upon a wider range of individuals. Not only does this allow for enlightening discussion but perhaps most valuable of all, discover meaningful friendships in people that we might have never been open to a friendship outside of book club.

2. You Read Books That You Might Not Have Read Otherwise

Which ties to reason number one, because people outside of your immediate circle of friends are more likely to have different literary tastes from your own. Breaking out of your genre comfort zone can open the door to discovering new literary loves.

3. You Can’t Help But Learn

Book clubs are a natural learning environment where you can’t help but to learn about people and the world. Discussing books helps to reinforce things in your mind and enable you to retain information better. Best of all, since it is not a formal learning environment, you can’t fail.

4. A New Book, A Fresh Start

Each new book allows you the opportunity to start afresh and improve yourself. Each person has different personal goals, whether they wish to participate more, commit to reading more, improve on leadership skills, socialize more, etc. The possibilities are endless.

5. There are Reading Deadlines

While deadlines can sound like a huge negative, they are actually a huge help for any book lover. Because we all have a mountain of a to-do list it starts to eat away at your precious reading time. But when you have to finish a book in time for your next book club meeting, you have a great excuse to carve out some time for yourself, lock yourself in your room, and actually finish a book.

6. A Book Club Just Might Turn You Into a Book Lover

But are’t book clubs full of book lovers? You don’t have to consider yourself a book nerd to enjoy a book club. You might even consider yourself a nonreader, and still read the book club book, show up for the meeting, and find that you have discovered something more valuable than you imagined.

7. You Can Find Emotional Support

If you are already a regular reader, you know what I’m talking about when I say that books can wreck you emotionally. We love books. We absolutely love books. But every book lover has dealt with the utter despair of losing a favorite character, feeling the pain of a characters experience, or injustice. Sometimes you just need to talk it out with some other brave souls who’ve been through the same fictional tragedy that you have. And then you all open another bottle of wine.

8. Joining a Book Club Could Help You Live Longer

I’m serious! According to a recent study published in the British Medical Journal, belonging to a book club or another similar group that meets regularly for social interaction can reduce your risk of premature death after retirement.

The research explained that social relationships are critical for managing the transition to retirement successfully. In fact, the benefits of these groups were found to be comparable to those from physical exercise!

Combining an activity like reading with friendship creates multiple benefits because it not only lowers stress and increases social connections, but with the reading and book discussion element involved, it may even promote the growth of new brain cells.

9. Book Club Can Improve Your Writing

For those with writing aspirations, book clubs are a wonderful breeding ground for ideas, motivation, and inspiration to pen your own literary masterpiece. Listening to other people’s assessment of a book and their discussion of likes and dislikes about plot, character and style, can help enormously in your journey to become a better, more successful writer.

10. You Discover and Enjoy New Food

Like many book clubs, the in person THT Book Club incorporated interesting foods that where connected to the theme of the book, or something that was prepared by one of the members. Again, because the members are not from the same circle, you are likely to discover something new and delicious that you might make a part of your own family traditions.