Virtual book clubs are a great way to stimulate your mind and stay connected to people when you can't meet in person. When you want to start a book club, one of your first steps is to pick a genre that provides a wealth of options for generating excitement about reading. Alaska pioneer memoirs are chocked full of stories about people overcoming hardships, and you can use these four tips to plan meetings that will keep everyone engaged with lively discussions.
Recruit a Diverse Group of Members
Diversity in your book club is more likely to generate unique insights that keep things interesting. Alaska has long held the attention of people from a variety of backgrounds, and memories about pioneers can be interesting to people with interests ranging from hunting to history and crafting. When you send out your invites, think about asking people from different age groups, ethnicities, and genders to join so that you get varying thoughts shared during your meetings.
Do Some Reading Ahead
As the leader of the book club, you need to stay one step ahead so that you can guide the discussions. Pick a memoir that you find interesting enough to read ahead. As you do, make notes about things such as the challenges that the main characters faced along with how they survived. These can help you guide your group in the discussions.
Develop a Few Starter Questions
Reading memoirs of Alaska pioneers is bound to generate some serious questions. Try to keep the questions that you ask your group open-ended, and encourage everyone to accept the validity of all of the answers that you receive. For instance, you might ask your group if they would have handled a situation differently. If you have avid outdoors people in your group, then you can also ask them to share their personal experiences.
Be On the Lookout for the Next Book
Once someone reads a memoir about people who were pioneers in Alaska, they are bound to want to read more. Each Alaskan pioneer's story is unique enough to continue reading from the genre for many months. While some pioneers were solo, others had tribes or families to work with through their struggles. The diverse environment of Alaska also means that pioneers faced different climates and animals during their journeys that impact their story. Consider doing a compare and contrast session about the books that you read to discover just how amazing each person's stories of survival are given their unique circumstances.
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