18 x 6 into 9 does go: a sustainable way of organising reading groups so that everybody gets to read the same books

by Robert Walters

One of the major benefits of belonging to a reading group is being able to talk about the book you've just read with other people who have also read it. The discussion kicks off where many other book discussions finish - like gossiping about a shared acquaintance. And you don't have to worry about your listeners losing the plot. Of course there are other models which have other benefits, but there is something uniquely appropriate to the concept of reading groups when all members can get their teeth into the discussion because they've shared the same reading experience. No need to hold back on talking about that final twist for the sake of revealing the ending! Also, because an important aspect of reading groups is the encouragement they give members to try books they wouldn't normally choose, the prospect of the coming discussion is an added incentive to stick with those books which you might give up on but which you're going to be glad you didn't.

However there are logistical problems associated with organising reading groups in this way. Not least the cost of buying the sets of books - especially for public libraries in these cash-strapped times. Therefore it seems worth setting out the way in which Bradford has managed to sustain this style of reading group over the last eight years: Bradford's credentials being impeccable: nine active reading groups the first, the second being our (lowly) position in the CIPFA tables of comparative expenditure on books.