I can hear the Fiddler on the Roof tune now, ‘Tradition!’ Every enduring book club should have at least one or two traditions to look forward to. Whether it’s an annual book club holiday party, reading a classic novel once a year or choosing a book genre that’s outside of your comfort zone each and every book club sets the standard and tone for keeping some worthwhile traditions alive.
One of our book club traditions is to pick a novel from the same author every January. Yes, the same author. The trick of this tradition is to pick a prolific author that not only has written many stand alone novels but also holds a special place within our groups heart. By starting this simple new year tradition it not only helps us in making a quick book decision, (in an already busy December) but everyone pretty much knows who we will be reading next. Our group’s only problem is agreeing on which novel to read out of the author’s many books!
Prolific Authors:
The definition of a prolific author: producing or capable of producing (especially abundantly) a multiple of published books. Believe it or not there are authors that have published hundreds or even thousands of novels. How fantastic would it be to select an author with over one hundred novels! Your book club will have a guaranteed read for many years. Best would be at least five plus books that are not within a series. A series would be a continuation that you may not want to wait a year for the next book and so forth. Here’s a list of authors and their many published books on Amazon.com’s Author Page.
Popular classic prolific authors:
Bronte Sisters – up to ten novels between them
Jane Austen – six completed novels
Agatha Christie – over sixty novels plus short stories
Charles Dickens – fifteen novels plus short stories
Modern prolific authors:
P.D. James – twenty novels
John Grisham – twenty plus novels
Stephen King – fifty novels
Nicholas Sparks – up to twenty novels
Tracy Chevalier – seven novels
Consider these book club traditions:
Have an author debut novel month! Read an up and coming new authors first novel
Book to movie field trip
If your group tends to read more modern type fiction try reading a biography or a classic once a year
Theme or holiday book parties (these are my favorite!)