A Bookclub for everyone!
Unlike some other local Bookclubs we do not exclude potential members on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, colour, creed, class or political persuasion. We are genuinely open to all. Except for the French.*

A lot of people assume that bookclubs are filled with nothing but Women reading books...

• By middle class women of a certain age
  
• For middle class women of a certain age
  
• About middle class women of a certain age

Wimbledon Bookclub could not be more different.

We are open to men and women of every age who would like to meet like minded people from the local area to discuss great books over a drink and hopefully make new friends.


If we were a cinema...
If we were a cinema we would be showing European Art House Films while serving home-made Carrot Cake with a Trappist brewed Belgian Beer or an Italian Chianti and not top 20 hollywood movie$ $erved with buttery popcorn and 1Lt of non-diet coke which have been relentlessly shoved at the general public. As a general rule if its in the top 20, we won't be reading it any time soon & if we hear at least one person every month say "it was a really great book but I'd never have thought to buy it myself" then we will have succeeded.


What we do read
We usually read contemporary fiction in paperback for convenience and being an adventurous bunch we will often like to read something new. We aim to read as wide a range of books as possible, that will appeal to as wide a range of people as possible. This may include Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction, Family sagas, Graphic Novels, current affairs or anything else that helps us become 'Well Read'.


What we don't read
In general we will not be reading books series, Chick-lit, Body-Mind-Spirit works or the very latest bestseller that's promoted by endless TV shows. There are enough Bookclubs catering specifically for these books already. As a rule of thumb most are under 400 pages and something that a commuter will easily be able to finish within one month. Once or twice a year we usually have a longer book (750+ pages) but they will almost always be proceeded or followed with shorter books of 250-300 pages or less. Impenetrable literary works such as James Joyce's Ulysses will probably not be chosen either. There is no point picking books that are so challenging that they stop being fun.


How our book choices are made
Our reading list is made by The Chief Bookworm ® in order to ensure it appeals to as wide a range of people as possible, men and women alike. This means we are as likely to read Science Fiction as Crime Fiction or Romantic Fiction as anything else. Bookworms (Members by any other name) are encouraged to put their book suggestion in their profile in the space provided. The Chief Bookworm ® does occasionally look at these for potential suggestions.

It's very common for Bookclubs to exclude Men via the books they read with an endless stream of books by women, for women and about women. Those who want to read these usual type of Bookclub books should join their local Womans Institute, there are no less than three of them in and around Wimbledon. They often happily exclude men too, if that's your preference.

People want to come to a Bookclub to enjoy themselves, chat about their shared book experience, have fun and hopefully avoid the politics and favouritism that plague many other Bookclubs when their book choices are made. I'm sure we have all experienced examples of a small cliques voting for each others choices, we don't have that.

We have occasionally had members join and in as little as ten minutes start complain about either the gender of the authors or the fact our book choices are made by one person. To these people I recommend they start their own Bookclub and lets see how inclusive their reading list becomes!

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Membership Dues - VERY IMPORTANT
There is an initial Membership Fee of £2.50 & Bookclub meetings are charge at £2.50 per meeting per person. Members have to pay their dues when they RSVP. There are no refunds of Dues under any circumstances unless a meeting is cancelled or rescheduled. Membership dues are made for named meetings and do not provide a form of credit that can be transferred between meetings or members.

Everything you want to know about Dues can be found >>here<<.


Upcoming Books
We generally try to provide at least two to three months notice of upcoming books to allow people plenty of time to read them.


Group size
So that meetings do not get too crowded a maximum limit of fourteen (14) people per meeting has been set. This is large enough to be diverse but not so large as to inhibit shyer members from speaking up.

Members are expected to RSVP before attending to allow us to control the number attending and provide the best experience for as many as possible. Those simply turning up without an RSVP will be asked to return with an RSVP.


Waiting List
As we limit the size of meetings to ensure they are small enough to be friendly, places often get filled quickly. After that you can add yourself to a Waiting List, which will email everyone on it should a place become available. After that its first come first served on who gets the place. That obviously gives an advantage to those who have an SmartPhone or use their email all day but no system would be perfect. Good luck with it though.


Two Strikes
Due to the success of the Bookclub and places being limited to 14 per meeting, there is a two-strikes-and-your-out policy for those changing their status to NO within 48 hours or so of a meeting or those simply don't turning up. When people cancel at the last minute it means that someone else misses out, which isn't cool. In this case "Out" means being removed from the group and banned from rejoining.


Members Pictures
We would ask people to upload an image of themselves to their profile before attending. This is mainly because we would like the book club to be a friendly place where people recognise and get to know each other. Without photos it has taken some members months to recognise other regular members by name. A photo will help us all put names to faces .

Anyone concerned with their online privacy can always update their meetup name to just their first name, this can be done here.


Contact us
If you would like to contact the organiser of the Wimbledon Bookclub for whatever reason please feel free to do so through this meetup site.**


* The French
We may make an exception to our open to all policy for the French. This has not been decided yet.


** Spam
Unsolicited Commercial, Public Relations, Advertising or "I thought you might be interested" emails will automatically be blacklisted and forwarded onto Spamhaus and recorded as spam. You have been warned. We will also never provide our members email address to a commercial company or email our members on anyone else's behalf, so please don't ask! Its embarrassing.