Three Ideas to Add Zest to Your Book Club

When starting book clubs, many people form the group to collaborate, learn, get mental stimulation, and, ideally, to laugh a lot. All of that is good for mental and social health. Over time, many book clubs lose their luster and become rather dull and uninspired. Do not abandon the club! Instead, add zest to the book club meeting format and ramp up the benefits even more. Here are three ideas to consider:

Each member of the Club can bring food that represents - with loose interpretation - the author's geographical locations of his/her birth, childhood, famous years or final rest.

The focus is on the author.  For example, if your club is reading book genres that are spiritual in nature, it is likely that Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is on your reading list. Her childhood was spent in New York City and that will give you many opportunities to find food to discuss. New York has some of the finest eats, such as hot juicy pastrami and slaw on pumpernickel that takes two hands to eat. Or pizza! New York has so many food items that would really add zest to your book club experience.

Gilbert has also traveled around the world, which also brings endless possibilities for food items. If you have read the book you'll know that she literally ate her way through Italy by devouring prosciutto and hard-boiled egg pizza, risotto ai funghi, octopus salad and lots of Chianti. I put on pounds just reading about her food explorations.

If your book club chooses to read mysteries, James Lee Burke may be on your author list. This prolific author who has won two Edgar Awards will stimulate your Cajun taste buds and salivations for Southern food like no other author can. He still lives part time in Louisiana where most of his novels take place. I can just taste the gumbo, boudin, dirty rice, jambalaya, sweet iced tea, all topped off with airy beignets as only the Cajuns can prepare.

According to our favorite Thesaurus, "food" is "something that sustains or stimulates the mind or soul." (Do you notice my food themes here?) If your book group meets at someone's home during a food time, here is another idea to add zest to your club. Unlike the Location is Everything idea, Food Showcase is an idea that asks the meeting hostess to present or showcase food that is relevant to the book being discussed, not the author. If your group is set up so that all club members contribute food, they would each bring food items that might showcase elements of the content of the book.

For example, for groups that read only best-selling novels, Stieg Larsson's novels may be on your list. The Hornet's Nest lends itself to food made with honey.

From the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett, you will find an abundance of ideas from deviled eggs, fried pork chops, ham sandwiches, chocolate pie and carmel cake. Use toilet paper for napkins and your group will bond with laughter around that item and how it was showcased in the book!

Are you seeing the possibilities of incorporating Food Showcase to add zest to your book club discussions?

Some authors do a splendid job of creating rich and interesting characters. This presents opportunities to zest up your book clubs and allow members to express themselves. It will also provide a lot of healthy laughing.

To add zest to your book club discussions you can implement the Costume Check idea at one or all of your meetings. Each club member would show up at your meeting already dressed as a character of the book.

If Andre Agassi's book, Open, is your current book selection, someone could bring a racket and wear tennis clothes. Since Costume Check includes any character in the book, someone may look forward to acting like Brooke Shields and could slip on tall shoes, wear a long wig, and plump up those eyelashes.

Think of the cast of characters in Sarah Palin's book Going Rogue! How much fun could you have dressing in an infamous Palin campaign suit? I don't know what hockey moms wear but someone in your club may already have those outfits. You wouldn't have to wear anything at all if you choose Eli Johnston as the book character to portray. (ooh, catty)

Add zest to your book club and keep your discussions lively.  These are only three ideas; there are many more you can use to kick life into a book club to ensure everyone achieves the benefits of healthy mental stimulation, camaraderie and learning. With this level of unpredictability and expression, you will improve the book club discussion questions which will take on new zest to educate your group in many more ways.