2026 Sweet Reads Book Club: Overview

karlimarie

Sweet Shoppe SugarBabe
Yay! It looks like we have enough interest to moving forward with a book club for 2026. Here’s what I propose…

structure

- Read one book per month
- Have a monthly check-in thread where we can post thoughts as we go with clear expectations on *spoilers*
- Halfway through the month I will post specific discussion questions in the thread, you can answer as many/as few as you want- along with anything else that comes up as you read.

other ideas

I originally had the idea of holding a virtual meeting on Zoom to discuss “in person” but I vetoed it knowing that it might not be accessible for everyone and I want to keep the barrier to entry low. However, we can keep this possibility open down the road depending on how the group evolves.

There was also a thought about creating a monthly scrap challenge based on the book we’re reading- either directly about the book, or related to a topic the book touched on… but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Again, an idea to consider once the group gets off the ground.

book choices

I want to do this as democratically as possible so that everyone is included and interested in participating each month- but I ask that we all keep an open mind to books that might stretch us outside of our comfort zones.

In about a week I will start a book suggestion thread where everyone can flood the post with ideas. These can be books you’ve already read and want to revisit again or books stuck on your TBR list, they can be new releases or classics, any genre, no suggestion is a bad suggestion.

Depending on how many book suggestions we collect we can either do a rank-choice vote or a category-based vote to ensure that we read a little bit of everything.

timeline

It would be great if we could decide on the books well in advance because for some of us relying on our local libraries the wait times for popular books can be quite long. So depending on how many book suggestions we get I may have us vote for 3-6 months at a time. I personally would love to know in advance what we’re reading for the entire year, but I worry that would discourage people coming in mid-way through the year.

feedback

Although I’m glad to take the lead on this, I welcome any and all feedback. If this doesn’t seem like it will work please let me know. My goal is to make this as inclusive and simple as possible.

That said, how does this sound?

If all seems do-able I will be back soon with a suggestion thread and we can get this party started!!
 
I think it sounds awesome! I too use the library so having a good amount of time is great!
 
This sounds wonderful and organized! Thank you for taking the lead on this. Having said that, I'm not in a great spot to be more involved than reading the books and maybe suggesting some books, but once I get my surgery out of the way, I can help more.
 
Sounds good! thank you for hosting!

With regard to book availability, I am in another online book club, and this month we read The Widow by John Grisham that came out in late September. When I checked my library (Cloud Library), the hold for the e-book is 6 months and the audiobook 5 months; I have no idea about the hard copies. I bought the Kindle version, but others stated they did not have the funds to purchase a new book. One of them said the wait at their library was a year! So maybe we should refrain from suggesting books that are less than a year old.
 
Sounds good! thank you for hosting!

With regard to book availability, I am in another online book club, and this month we read The Widow by John Grisham that came out in late September. When I checked my library (Cloud Library), the hold for the e-book is 6 months and the audiobook 5 months; I have no idea about the hard copies. I bought the Kindle version, but others stated they did not have the funds to purchase a new book. One of them said the wait at their library was a year! So maybe we should refrain from suggesting books that are less than a year old.

Definitely something to keep in mind!

As an audiobook listener I've found a few workarounds...

With Amazon Prime Music I get to take out a free book a month from their huge library- this has come in super handy when books have LONG wait times or are on the obscure side.

Spotify also has a monthly allowance for listening to audio books - I haven't used this option but I have friends who have used it.

A couple times a year Audible has really good deals like 99 cents for three months... you get one free book plus access to their massive audiobook library.

Maybe there are similar hacks for ebook readers?

For physical book readers getting new books for free/cheap can certainly be a challenge though! I know of a few online used book stores if anyone needs links!
 
Hi all, I'm so behind in the forum and didnt know you guys were doing this until just now!! I would love to join your book club if that's okay?! I'm usually an avid reader who has let my hobby fall to the wayside recently so I'm pretty excited to join in and get some reading under my belt this year! I have gone from a 100 books a year Goodreads goal, to not even meeting my 5 book goal last year... and I'm honestly ashamed of myself. I hope this really motivates me!! I'm going to head to my library tomorrow to look for this month's book!!
 
Hi all, I'm so behind in the forum and didnt know you guys were doing this until just now!! I would love to join your book club if that's okay?! I'm usually an avid reader who has let my hobby fall to the wayside recently so I'm pretty excited to join in and get some reading under my belt this year! I have gone from a 100 books a year Goodreads goal, to not even meeting my 5 book goal last year... and I'm honestly ashamed of myself. I hope this really motivates me!! I'm going to head to my library tomorrow to look for this month's book!!

Yay! The more the merrier. It’s super low-key and no pressure. Read what you like- jump in when you can.

If you want to plan ahead you can check out the books for the first few months of the year here: https://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101837
 
Hi Karli, I'm just wondering if May's book has been chosen? I would like to see if the library has it available. Thank you so much.
 
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