In early 2023, the pair of us, along with our good friend Olivia, started a small book club, none of us knowing how long it would last. Maybe we’d read half a dozen books or so before fizzling out, or maybe we wouldn’t even get that far. It seemed fun, regardless of what happened, and so we started on our first book: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini. Now here we are, over two years later, still going strong and about to start our 29th book, as of the end of May.
We’ve structured our book club in different rounds, each one with a theme. Our first book is one that none of the group has read, and it doesn’t need to match the theme. Usually we each pick two, place all six on a wheel, and spin to see what the fates decide. After our new book of the round, we each pick a book that follows the theme. Some of our themes have included childhood favorites, fairy tale retellings, sci-fi, and even just personal favorites. On average, we take about a month per book, give or take depending on length and other life circumstances. Since it’s just the three of us, we don’t adhere to a strict schedule like some bigger groups might, but rather we play by ear and plan our book club chats as we go. This format has worked well for us, allowing us to share personal favorites, re-explore classics, and find new books to add to our shelves, while still being able to work around jobs, personal lives, and the varied paces we may read at.
There have been a few authors who we’ve visited repeatedly: Paolini, Brandon Sanderson, and Stephen King. The Eragon series was a favorite of both Olivia and Ava, Saige has been a Sanderson fan for over a decade, and Ava is an Avid King reader. In 2023, our trio traveled to Salt Lake City to attend Dragonsteel, where we attended panels, bought way too many signed books, and enjoyed the creative environment centered around sci-fi and fantasy. We even got to meet Paolini, the author whose novel kick-started our little club, as well as numerous other authors, artists, and creators. We’re eagerly awaiting Dragonsteel 2025, as well as other potential opportunities to meet and collaborate with those in the field.
Still going strong after two years, we have many more rounds of books planned, including reading sequels, books that have made us cry like babies, dystopic novels, classic literature, and biographies. We can all agree that it’s a pleasant surprise to still be going strong, and with plans for so many more novels to read, I’m sure our little trio will be going on for quite a while longer.
Have a book club of your own? Want to start one? Just looking for some new reads? Check out all of the rounds we’ve done so far!
Round One: Personal Favorites – Our first picks for the club
- New book: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, Christopher Paolini
- Saige’s book: The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson
- Olivia’s books: Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colver and The Taggerung, Brian Jaques
- Ava’s book: The Stand, Stephen King
Round Two: Childhood Nostalgia – Books we enjoyed when we were young
- New book: Good Omens, Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman
- Saige’s book: Alcatraz versus The Evil Librarians, Brandon Sanderson
- Olivia’s book: The Ruins of Gorlan, John Flannagan
- Ava’s book: The Dragon Rider, Cornelia Funke
Round Three: Cheesy Romance – Guilt-free chance to read some romance
- New book: The Art of Prophecy, Wesley Chu
- Saige’s book: An Enchantment of Ravens, Margaret Rogerson
- Olivia’s book: A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sara J. Maas
- Ava’s book: Twilight, Stephanie Meyer
Round Four: You Haven’t Read This? – More personal favorites that we just had to share
- New book: I, Robot, Isaac Asimov
- Saige’s book: Storm Front, Jim Butcher
- Olivia’s book: Eragon, Christopher Paolini
- Ava’s book: The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfus
Round Five: Parent’s Choice – A book picked for us by a parent
- New book: The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
- Saige’s dad’s book: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig
- Olivia’s mom’s book: Hunter, Mercedes Lackey
- Ava’s dad’s book: The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom
Round Six: Fairy Tales – Retellings or twists on classic tales
- New book: Under the Whispering Door, TJ Klune
- Saige’s book: The School for Good and Evil, Soman Chainani
- Olivia’s book: Cinder, Marissa Meyer
- Ava’s book: Fairy Tale, Stephen King
Round Seven: Science Fiction – Aliens, gadgets, spaceships, and more
- New book: Blood of Elves, Andrzej Sapowski
- Saige’s book: Skyward, Brandon Sanderson
- Olivia’s book: Dune, Frank Herbert
- Ava’s book: The Tommyknockers, Stephen King
Round Eight: Boy’s Choice – books picked by a boyfriend, a guy friend, and a husband
- New book: World War Z, Max Brooks
- Saige’s boyfriend’s book: Red Rising, Pierce Brown
- Group friend’s book: Darkstalker, Tui T. Sutherland
- Ava’s husband’s book: Super Human, Michael Carrol
Round Nine: LGBTQ+ Picks – Celebrating pride month with a few queer novels
- New book: Hyperion, Dan Simmons
- Saige’s book: Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir
- Olivia’s book: All That’s Left in the World, Erik J. Brown
- Ava’s book: In The Lives of Puppets, TJ Klune
Round Ten: Same Author, New Book – A new book by an author we love
- New book: The End of the World as We Know It, Various
- Saige’s book: The Aeronaut’s Windlass, Jim Butcher
- Olivia’s book: Heartless, Marissa Meyer
- Ava’s book: Rose Madder, Stephen King (Current read!)
Round Eleven: Dragonsteel – Books by authors we got to see/meet at Dragonsteel Nexus 2025
- New book: The Road, Cormac McCarthy
- Saige’s book: Heretical Fishing, Haylock Jobson
- Olivia’s book: Of Blood and Fire, Ryan Cahill
- Ava’s book: Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi
Round Twelve: Sequels! – The second book from a series we previously read in book club
- New book: TBD
- Saige’s book: The Art of Destiny, Wesley Chu
- Olivia’s book: Eldest, Christopher Paolini
- Ava’s book: The Wise Man’s Fear, Patrick Rothfuss
Round Thirteen: Greek Mythology – Retellings or interpretations of classical Greek stories
- New book: TBD
- Saige’s book: Circe, Madeline Miller
- Olivia’s book: Medea, Rosie Hewlett
- Ava’s book: Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller
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