September 11th is Book Club Day in the UK.

It’s a time to share and highlight the joy of being part of a book club and to encourage new clubs to form, so that more people will discover the social connections that discussing a book can bring.

I led a library-based book club for eleven years, stepping down only recently due to time pressures. But I’m remaining a member of the group because I love hearing all the different opinions generated by just one book. Invariably, we have someone who loves it and someone who thought it was so bad that they couldn’t finish it, plus all shades in between. And as an author, the experience helps me to accept that, without a doubt, some readers will hate my books while others (fingers crossed!) will like them.

There are a multitude of different types of book club: some concentrate on a particular genre such as crime, in others members take it in turn to choose the books, in my group the leader chooses our monthly book from the book group stock held within the Birmingham library system, in some groups the wine is more important than the literature and others bring together neighbours in a particular street.

If you’re looking for recommendations for your group, here are a few that my group has read and discussed with gusto:
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett – the late Queen visits a mobile library.
Mr. Two Bomb by William Cole – a man witnesses the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor – an elderly lady in the late 1960s joins several other older people as a permanent resident in a hotel.
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid – a 1970s pop band and their lead singer.
Elevation by Stephen King – a man is mysteriously losing weight.

As a group leader, I always found it helpful when a book had a list of ‘Discussion Questions’ included at the end. We didn’t work prescriptively through the list but it was good to have a jumping off point to get the conversation buzzing. During the final edits for Out of Control I drew up a list of discussion questions and was delighted when my publisher, Choc Lit, agreed to include them at the back of the book.
I’m too nervous to try out the book and the questions with my own group (and I think my presence would sugarcoat their comments!) but if anyone tries Out of Control with their group, I’d love to know how you get on, whether the questions help and whether there are any other topics that the book leads you on to?