How does it work?

Nominating and Selecting Books

Everyone has an opportunity to actively select the discussed books.   

Participants can nominate a book by sending an email to dcbookdiscussion@yahoo.com.   When nominating a book, please include a brief two sentence description of the book and any related hyperlinks or book reviews to promote the book. 

All nominated books will be voted on by the group's participants, using an Evite poll.

The book that has the most votes and a volunteer to lead the discussion will be the selected book.

Signing up for a Meeting

After a book is selected, participants have approximately one month to read and decide if they wish to register to attend the next meeting for the selected book and selected date. 

Participants must register to attend a particular meeting in advance, per the deadlines stated in the monthly Evite.  After the individual registers and commits to attend the meeting, they are expected to take the responsibility to read the book and attend the meeting. 

Many meetings fill up quickly.  We only allow a certain number of participants to register for each meeting, to prevent the group from being too large.  Large groups can often inhibit thoughtful, meaningful discussion.  Fifteen is about as large as we want any particular meeting. 

Participating in a Meeting

We meet once a month (always on a Monday) at a local restaurant to discuss the selected book. 

The restaurant location changes, but it will always be in Washington DC or very close (such as Arlington) and very close to a Metro subway station.

A discussion leader will facilitate each month's book group meeting.  Each meeting slightly varies based upon the style of the discussion leader and chemistry of the group. 

However, each meeting lasts about one hour to two hours with a group size ranging between six to fifteen (6-15) participants.  Most of our meeting places serve dinner as well.  Some participants order dinner while others do not.  We try to pick places that give individuals the flexibility of ordering food or not.

Are there any costs or rules? 

The only costs to participate are if you choose to purchase the book and eat anything at the meeting.  However, many of our members check the book out at the library, and we try to select meeting places that are flexible in whether you order dinner or not.  However, we have no membership fees.

We really only have two (2) expectations of the participants, and they center on personal responsibility.  If you choose to participate by registering for a particular meeting, you are expected to (1) read the book and (2) attend the meeting.  Participants who fail to fulfill these responsibilities are dropped from the mailing list.

You are invited to attend as many or as few meetings as you like.  However, if you frequently attend the meetings, you are given an advance opportunity to register for a meeting.