10 Tips for Buddy or Group Reads with Friends or Family

Way back on May 3 of this year, I made published the following post: Buddy and/or Group Reads over Zoom. My family and I are still going strong with reading a chapter of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit each time we meet. However, instead of meeting once a month, we changed it to meeting every Sunday. It may be taking us "a while" to get through the book, but it's valued family time for all of us.

When I'm writing this, my family will be meeting for another Hobbit read on the upcoming Sunday. With us meeting so soon after I'm writing this, it got me thinking about making another post on buddy and/or group reads. That's why I looked for the post linked above so that I didn't repeat the same points in two separate posts. This, as a result, got me thinking about possible tips and suggestions I could give for doing buddy and/or group reads, especially with friends or family.

With all that out of the way, here are 10 tips for buddy or group reads with friends or family.

Tip 1: Try to decide on a book as soon as possible.

This may seem like an obvious tip. However, I think it's the most important thing to consider. That way, once you decide on the book, everyone can move to either buy or borrow the book before you actually start reading.

Tip 2: If you can't decide on a book, use something like a TBR jar to help decide.

On the flipside of Tip 1, it can be hard to decide on the book. As a result, a TBR jar can lend a helping hand in the decision-making process. On October 2, I made a post about creating a TBR jar, which can also be applied to this situation. Create a list of books that everyone in your group wants to read - maybe keep it to one book per person in your book.  Then, put all of these titles in a jar, shake it up, and then choose a book.

Tip 3: Make sure everyone is able to have access to the book you decide to read.

This is just as important as Tip 1. If not everyone has access to the book, whether through buying it or borrowing it, then there's no use in starting your buddy or group read. While, if the person is okay with it, you can start before they get the book (if they'll get access soon and if they say it's okay), it may take them some time to catch up. So I'd recommend just making sure that everyone has access to the book.

Tip 4: If you're doing a group read, set a maximum number of people that'll be in that group read.

This tip may be a bit confusing, especially if there are a lot of people in your family or friend groups who love reading. However, if you have a large number of people in the group read, it can be hard to manage, especially with Tips 5-9. However, having a smaller number as your maximum number of people in the group read can make Tips 5-9 easier to manage.

Tip 5: Decide on how you'll meet up to discuss the book.

Will you do audio calls, FaceTime, video calls, Zoom, Google Meets, or another video/phone calling app? Or will you do email, text, or another form of group chat messaging board? (Some of these messaging boards, like Discord, do have video and voice features as well.)

Tip 6: Decide on when you'll meet up to discuss the book.

Will you meet up regularly, such as once every 1-2 weeks as you read the book? Or will you meet up after you're all done with the book? What day of the week and what time will you be meeting up to discuss the book?

Tip 7: Decide if you'll meet up to read the book together at multiple points in time or if you'll just meet up after you're all done with the book.

I mentioned this briefly in Tip 6, but it deserved its own tip. It can be hard to approach meeting up if you don't decide on how regularly you'll meet up as you read the book, or if you'll just meet afterward. Additionally, it can also help to know the schedules of everyone in your buddy or group read.

Tip 8: If you'll be meeting regularly, set times that you'll check in with your buddy or group as you read.

Again, make sure these are days and times that work best for everyone in your group. It's also good to have a rough idea of when you'll be meeting up (or, at least, talking) with everyone in your buddy/group read. These can change as you go along but have a rough idea of when you'll discuss the book.

Tip 9: Make sure that you decide on a day and time to meet that works with everyone's schedules.

I've mentioned this briefly in the previous tips. However, it's always good to make sure that when you meet works with everyone's basic schedules. I say "basic schedules" because things can come up at the last minute, or even the week before. As a result, as long as you have a day that works with the basic schedule, you can always work with last-minute or unexpected changes.

Tip 10: Don't feel pressured to go about buddy and/or group reads in a single way.

There is no "right" or "wrong" way to go about buddy and/or group reads. You can always do a combination of ways to go about it, such as texting/messaging after each chapter and meeting in person once you're done with the book. (This is only one suggestion, of course.)