How to start a bookclub .......

You should never need an excuse to sit down and read a good book. The best way to ensure you read regularly is to join a book club. If you don't want to join a book club full of strangers, why not form your own. Email some friends and get your book club going.

People's tastes in books are varied. Try and find between six to ten friends that have similar tastes to your own. This is something to enjoy and shuld not feel like a shool project.

Once you have established your group, decide what dates to meet on and rotate at each others homes or meet some place social. Be strict and remember that the book is the main topic of conversation. Take turns to choose a book, make sure that all members would like the book. Try alternate classics with contemporary, heavy with light.

Be logical, choose a book list or title ideas from a magazine you read regularly. Don't get to stuck in a groove or genre. It is worth reading at least the back covers of the books featured in bestseller lists.

For your first book club meeting come with a list of five books you have loved and read, and a list of what you are dying to read. This will help see what you enjoy and what everyone has in common. See what everyone else suggests.

For the evening itself the book is the social element bringing everyone together. If you are hosting the discussion make the books come to life, create a theme, setting you would think would bring everyone together. This way people will definitely be inclined to turn up and read the book.