Book Clubs

The Santa Barbara Public Library System is a convenient starting point for your book club or discussion group. Below are links to resources for choosing books, book discussion guides and book reviews, information about authors, and starting a book club. Be sure to check our catalog for copies of your book selections in various formats: regular or large print, book on tape or CD, or downloadable audiobook. Call your local branch for assistance with requesting books from other libraries.

What shall we read next?

Choosing a book for your next read can be the most fun and the most challenging part of being in a book club. The following websites list and describe fiction and/or nonfiction books to consider:

• BookBrowse
  Read excerpts from and reviews of books, as well as author interviews and reading guides.
   
• MostlyFiction.com
  Want to read something humorous, a mystery, something with a Latin theme? You can read about books by genre, or search by author or title. This site, created by a book-loving boat-dweller, includes new books and those that are not in a current promotion cycle, but an excellent read nonetheless.
   
• New York Times Bestseller Lists
  NYT's weekly update of the nation's bestsellers. Lists and reviews in contemporary fiction, world literature, Latin American, the Wild West, facing history, humorous fiction, mystery / suspense, detectives & sleuths, espionage / thriller, beyond reality, and nonfiction.
   
• NoveList Guide to Fiction
  This site offers annotated book lists, author read-alikes (if you've read everything by your favorite author), fully developed guides for adult and young adult discussions, including information on the author, a plot summary, questions and answers, and suggested titles for further reading. [Santa Barbara Public Library System card number required for access outside the library.]
   
• What's Next: A Searchable Database of Novels in Series
  Searchable listing of adult fiction in series--two or more books linked by character(s), settings, or other common traits.
   
• The Beat
  Nancy Pearl, author of Book Lust, and Seattle’s librarian and book reviewer extraordinaire, shares her most recent reads.
   
• Bestseller Lists 1900-1995 
  Publisher's Weekly's list of bestselling hardcover books for the years 1900 to 1995. Lists the Top 10 fiction and non-fiction books for each year.
   
• Powells.com
  Find synopses and excerpts from selected best sellers, browse by genre, link to media book club lists. The Litblog Co-op unites twenty-one leading literary weblogs for the purpose of drawing attention to the best of contemporary fiction, authors and presses that are struggling to be noticed in a flooded marketplace. Sells new and used books. Links to unusual book awards.
   

Award-Winning Books

The sites below list the latest and past winners of some major book awards.

• National Book Award
  Given since 1950, the National Book Awards honor U.S. writers in four genres: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people's literature.
   
• Pulitzer Prizes
  The Pulitzer Prize is awarded to authors whose work in fiction, drama and poetry best depict American life. 
   
• The Man Booker Prize
  Established by Booker-McConnell in 1968, the prize rewards the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations or the Republic of Ireland.
   
• National Book Critics Circle
  The National Book Critics Circle is comprised of over 700 active book reviewers and presents awards for the finest books published in English for fiction, general nonfiction, biography/autobiography, poetry and criticism.
   
• Nobel Prize in Literature
  The Nobel Prize has distinguished the works of authors from different languages and cultural backgrounds.
   
• Book Spot
  Provides links to other major book awards, including numerous genres.
   
• The Booklist Center
  Over 346 lists in over 82 categories (including anthropology, poetry, Jewish Culture, Westerns, Nonfiction Crime, Literate Fiction, Sports, and many more), of recommended books and winners of lesser-known awards, through 2004.
   

Author biographies, book discussion guides, reviews

• Biography Resource Center
  Find background information on an author or other person of note in this online database. [Santa Barbara Public Library System card number required for access.]
   
• NoveList Guide to Fiction
  This site offers annotated book lists, author read-alikes (if you've read everything by your favorite author), fully developed guides for adult and young adult discussions, including information on the author, a plot summary, questions and answers, and suggested titles for further reading. [Santa Barbara Public Library System card number required for access outside the library.]
   
• Santa Barbara Public Library System catalog
  For book-length author biographies. [Find books in the Santa Barbara County and San Luis County public libraries, place requests using your library card number.]
   
• Reading Group Guides
  Provides comprehensive guides for hundreds of books including bestsellers, romance, spirituality, civil war, or literary fiction.
   
• Guide to Santa Barbara Authors and Publishers
  The author section has brief information about writers who live or have lived in the Santa Barbara area. Includes dates, career, and bibliographic information. The publisher section is a briefly annotated list of "publishers/presses and associated individuals located at one time or another in Santa Barbara." From the Department of Special Collections, Donald C. Davidson Library, University of California Santa Barbara.
   

I’d like to join a book club — how do I find one?

Book clubs or discussion groups are generally formed independently by one or two people who then invite a limited number of others to join with them. There are no standard rules or requirements – these are developed and agreed upon by the members.  

• A group may typically have from 8 to 15 members (or more or less).
• They may meet once a month or every other month (or more or less).
• Groups will often meet at members’ homes, taking turns (or not), or at a library, park or coffee shop.
• Books may be chosen by consensus, or individuals may take turns, or they may chose to read books on a television book club list (Oprah, Today Show, etc.).
• The meetings may focus exclusively on discussing the book selected, or may include refreshments and socializing.

If you would like to form a book club, you can find helpful information on getting started here: 

• Book-Clubs-Resource.com
  This site, for "readers who love to talk about books," contains a guide to help "organize, run and moderate a successful book club." Also includes links to online book clubs and discussion forums, and sites providing free discussion guides for specific works. 
   
• Book Club How-to's
  Tips on organizing a book group, as well as leading a book discussion, from the Washington Center for the Book at the Seattle Public Library.
   
• Oprah’s New Book Club
  Oprah’s Book Club requires a free, quick registration to gain access to tips for starting your own book discussion group, contacts for open book clubs in your area, dozens of online reading groups, suggested books for stimulating discussion, essay contest, and other features.