Reading Liberally Resources

Want to start a league of literary liberals? Here are some pointers, compiled with the help of various Reading Liberally chapter leaders, that will help make your progressive page-turning a success.

Picking a Book

• Have members vote on which books they want to read. (For lists of good political reads, check out the Progressive Book Club’s monthly picks!)
• Try designating two books for each meeting. People can read one or both, and the addition of a second book will lead to new points of view and an increasingly enriched disucssion.
• Encourage members to bring additional relevant reading materials. These can include recent blog postings, newspaper articles, passages from other books… reading and discussing the additional materials is a great way to get everyone involved, as well as to relate the books to current political events.
• Try reading both a non-fiction book and a related fiction book. For example, one New York chapter leader wanted to read Jack Kerouac’s classic On The Road alongisde a current nonfiction book on the oil crisis—ultimately leading to a discussion of how Kerouac’s journey would have been different in today’s petroleum dependent society.

Picking the Venue

• Reading Liberally chapters have been held in a variety of locations, from bars to cafes to libraries. What is important is to have a space that is intimate enough that everyone can hear one another and feel involved.
• Call ahead to make sure that the venue can accommodate the group. If they can’t designate a spot specifically for you to meet, make sure that there is ample space for the group as well as for other patrons. (This way, when everyone surrounding you glares at you for disrupting their space, you can rest assured that there are plenty of other areas for them to move to!)

Getting People to Come

• As the Salt Lake City Reading Liberally chapter leader put it, "There is no 'magic wand'—it’s a long hard slog by someone (or a small group) willing to spend a lot of time in a 'labor of love'" Still, there are some tactics that have proven to be more successful than others.

Bring friends and get them to bring their friends—most Reading Liberally chapters grow primarily through word of mouth. And tell people about it everywhere you go!

• Ask members to post flyers advertising the next Reading Liberaly meeting (send them out via email).
• Ask local independent bookstores to advertise for the meeting on their listserves/bulletin boards (This does not seem to be as successful as word-of-mouth or flyering, however)

Running a Successful Meeting

• Put up signs that direct members to your specific location (signs have the alternate purpose of alerting nearby people that a group meeting will soon be taking place!)
• Send weekly emails to stay in touch with your group. Email reading quizzes to members before each meeting (send the questions one week, and the answers the next). This will give all members a frame of mind from which to discuss the book.
• Make sure that at least one person has read the book thoroughly and can give a summary to people who may not have read the whole thing (Surprisingly common—at the first meeting of Reading Liberally NYC only the chapter leader had read the books! Which was enough to faciliate discussion.)
• Create an online blackboard (an internet tool that allows you to post discussion threads online) A great example is Salt Lake City’s: www.drinkingliberallyslc.org/reading

We would love to help you make your chapter a success! For more questions, advice, and support feel free to contact Living Liberally at info@livingliberally.org