Once or twice a year, consider a different type of activity for a meeting. Try one of these ideas with your group.
1.
Choose a series of books with a connecting element or theme. Select books with the same setting (i.e. Chicago) or centered on the same event (i.e. the Civil War). You can compare viewpoints of authors and discuss how each might treat the same subject in different ways. If the books were set in different time periods, this would add new perspective.
2.
If a video of your discussion title is available, plan another meeting to view it together and discuss how it differs from the book. You might combine the discussion with watching the movie and talk about them together. Or you could plan a trip to a movie theater as a group if your title has recently been made into a film.
3.
Choose a fiction and nonfiction book on the same topic. You could discuss each book separately at two meetings or combine them into one discussion.
4.
Invite a speaker whose area of expertise pertains to the subject of your book. It might be interesting to compare the reality of a topic to the way it is presented in the novel.
5.
If an author will be speaking in the area, you could plan to attend the lecture as a group. You could discuss one or two of his/her books before you go.
6.
If someone in your group knows an author personally (or if you have some other connection), perhaps he/she would come to a meeting and participate in a discussion of one of his/her books.
7.
Invite a college professor (or high school teacher) to give a talk on a particular book or author. He/she could join in the book discussion as a participant.
8.
If the title you have chosen features recipes, you could make something from the book and serve it at your meeting.
9.
Invite someone from the Advisory Services Department to give a book talk of "discussible" titles. These talks are 30–40 minutes long and should be scheduled 2–3 months ahead. Call the Welcome Desk (847-506-2640).
10.
After a discussion, look at maps and pictures of the places or subjects mentioned in the book. Or do a little research about the author and present it to the group.
