Friday Favorites: Bookish Activities

By: Manuela Soares

Hello, again readers, and happy July and Independence weekend to our US readers! This week’s Friday Favorites is all about things you can do with a book club or even just some friends. I’ve been in one virtual book club for several years now, and there are always fun activities going on. While many places around the world are officially “open” again, I know many aren’t, and there are plenty of us that are still taking caution and limiting our time around others. So, here are some ways that you can have a little fun and get in some extra social interaction.

1.) Card Exchanges: Postcards, Note Cards, Christmas/Holiday Cards, Birthday Cards

These exchanges are a great idea and a lot of fun to do. It’s simple and can be done in a couple of ways depending on what it is. The first being that a list is made with everyone participating and their address. Once the list is compiled, everyone gets a copy and then sends out their cards. Also, for birthday cards, it’s very easy to just add everyone’s birthdays to the list and say that all birthday cards need to be sent out at the beginning of each month. The second option is more so for the postcards than the others, and it’s to create a list of participants and each person sends their address to the person above them, and then sends a postcard/note card to the person who sent them their address (the last person on the list sends to the first person). I’ve done this a few times now, and it’s so much fun, especially if your group is spread out around the country or world.

2.) Book Recommendations

This one is straightforward; it’s just people recommending books to one another. It can be used for group reads or between pairs. It’s a great way to get out of your comfort reading zone and delve into something new that you may not have picked up on your own.

3.) Book Swap

This is another fun and interesting activity that can be done in a couple of ways. The first is to simply send the book to one another; again, make a list and whoever starts with the book sends it to the next person, and so on and so forth until the book has reached the last person on the list. You can also make a time limit for the book to be read, like two or three weeks. Otherwise, depending on the size of the group and the individual reading speeds, it could be months between sends. The second way to do this, similar to book recs, is to simply pair up and swap books that way.

4.) Movie Nights

There are two ways this can work, either everyone watches the movie separately and then talks about it, or if people have the same subscription service (Netflix, Hulu, etc.), then a watch party can be held and everyone (or at least those with that subscription) can watch it together.

5.) Scavenger Hunts

This one is a little different and requires a bit more effort. First, a list of words needs to be compiled, it can be a short list or a long one, but I would recommend having at least 20-40 words on it. Second, set a time for how long the hunt is to take place (a month, two months, etc.). What the participants are going to do is when they’re reading they’ll be on the lookout for those words or any variation of those words. When they find them, have them jot down the book, author, page number, and how it was used. Now, the ‘winner’ will either be the person who found all the words or the person who, at the end of the time window, found the most words. It can be a fun game and if the group wants to do a prize, again, depending on the size of the group, have everyone pitch in a little to get a book of the winner’s choice.

What do you think? Do these sound like fun book activities that you can or would do? Have you done any of them or do something else? Let us know in the comments, we’re always looking for new things to do.

Happy reading and have a good weekend everyone!