I love reading. I also have an incredibly hard time sitting down and actually doing it.

Not because I don’t have books I want to read — I have plenty. It’s because sitting down with one somehow feels like an irresponsible use of time.

Why does leisure have to justify itself by being productive?

I think somewhere along the way I started treating anything that wasn’t productive as something I had to earn. Reading could happen after the laundry was folded, after the kitchen was clean, after I worked on the website, after I finished schoolwork — basically after a list that was never actually going to end.

Starting this book club gave reading somewhere to go on the calendar. It wasn’t just something I’d get around to if I magically found the time. Amanda, Keegan, and I had a book to read and a date to talk about it. Suddenly sitting down with a book wasn’t me ignoring everything else I should be doing. It was the thing I had planned to do.

And honestly, I think I needed that more than I realized.

The book club started as a way for three friends who live in different states to spend intentional time together. But for me, it’s also become a very small exercise in remembering that I am allowed to do things simply because I like them. They don’t have to make money. They don’t have to check something off a list.

Sometimes I can just read the book.

How Our Long-Distance Book Club Works

We intentionally kept our book club simple. None of us needed another complicated thing to manage, so there are no strict reading schedules, assigned chapters, or rules about how much you have to finish before we talk.

The whole point is to give us a reason to read, slow down, and make time for each other — not turn reading into another assignment.

01 — We rotate who chooses the book.
One person picks the book and sends copies to the other two. Amanda chose our first one, The Secret History, and then we rotate for the next book.

02 — We read at our own pace.
We don’t assign a certain number of chapters every week. We give ourselves enough time to actually enjoy the book instead of racing through it.

03 — We check in along the way.
We talk while we’re reading — things we noticed, theories, passages we loved, words I inevitably had to Google — without ruining anything for whoever isn’t there yet.

04 — We meet on Zoom.
Since we live in different states, our actual book club happens virtually. We pick a night, get comfortable, bring whatever we’re drinking, and talk about the book.

05 — Then someone else picks the next one.
And we start over. No elaborate system required.

Want to Start a Long-Distance Book Club?

If you’ve been thinking about starting a book club with friends who don’t live nearby, my biggest advice is to just start it. You don’t need matching reading schedules, elaborate discussion guides, or even enough people to technically constitute a “club.”

The easier you make it, the more likely everyone is to actually keep doing it.

1. Keep the group small.
A few people who genuinely want to read and talk to each other is plenty. A smaller group also makes finding a time to meet much easier.

2. Rotate who chooses the book.
This is one of my favorite parts of our setup because I end up reading something I might not have chosen for myself. Whoever chooses can also send the other members their copies if you want to make receiving the next book part of the tradition.

3. Decide when you’ll talk before you start reading.
We use Zoom because we’re in different states. Putting the next discussion on the calendar gives us an actual reason to make time for the book instead of saying, “We’ll talk about it when everyone finishes.”

4. Don’t turn it into homework.
Take notes if you want. Show up with absolutely nothing prepared except opinions if you want. This is supposed to be fun.

5. Let the book be the excuse.
Yes, we’re reading. But we’re also making intentional time to sit down with people we love. The book gives us something to talk about; the friendship is really the point.

I made a free guide with everything you need to get started — from choosing your books and planning your meetings to discussion questions that actually get people talking.