Atwood tweets at @MargaretAtwood

Once the domain of overworked mothers wanting to escape the kids for a few hours, or staid old writers musing in a smoky library, book club discussions have now evolved, thanks to the internet, into a major trend spanning the globe.

Or perhaps that is just what I tell myself, having recently celebrated the transformation of endless book gossiping with a friend into an official book club, launched with cocktails. Our club membership figures may only stand at two as yet, but we are not alone; fellow book lovers are emerging from all corners of the country, and making their literary opinions heard through every medium possible.

Literature on Twitter

If library user numbers are dwindling all the time, the online army of book fans is alive and well, and growing fast in forums, blogs and all over Twitter.

Twitter, in fact, is a great place to enter the exciting world of social literature. It allows you to glean fascinating snippets from best-selling authors:

‘A happy Year of the Rabbit to all, hope it’s nibbly & fuzzy…& greetings to my fellow members of the long-eared, twitchy-whiskered tribe’, @MargaretAtwood was heard to tweet a few days ago.

Besides bringing you within a keyboard’s distance of the some of the literary greats of our time, Twitter also dedicates a whole section to ‘Books’, under it’s ‘who to follow’ tabs. This will direct you to some great resources like @simonschuster, the profile of the major publishing house, who tweet endlessly about upcoming book releases and events.

See also @googlebooks for quirky quotes and passages to inspire you, and @R_Nash for publisher Richard ‘I believe in the book as the greatest social glue’ Nash’s thoughts.

Literary Forums

It’s not only the big literary players who are chatting about books online. For the truly passionate debates, opinions and recommendations, the public forums are the place to go. Try Book Group Online; their forum is uncluttered and easy to use, with heated debates on all the latest releases.

Another forum site, Book Talk is set up more like an actual reading group, with discussions geared around set books each month.

Book Drum offers a different idea again; keen readers can submit detailed summaries of their favourite books to this site, enhancing them with pictures, maps, videos and music to help people visualise scenes and bring their top reads to life.

In a Reading Rut?

Stuck on what to read next? Type ‘book recommendations’ into Google to discover an endless list of dedicated sites like What Should I Read Next? and Good Reads.

Get social and set up a book club

The former site lets you type in the name of any book before bringing up a list of related reader recommendations and reviews. Never again will you be stuck for a good page-turner.

If you’d rather have a meaningful discussion about your latest book discovery face to face rather than over an impersonal internet forum, why not set up your own book club. Book Club Queen has a few tips, including:

● Start with four core members. Your group should never more than double its size. Think ‘too many cooks’…

● Set up a ‘hosting schedule’ where the host chooses the book and leads the discussion; this should change every week to ensure variety.

● Suggest that each member brings a few discussion topics or a favourite passage to every meeting to maintain focus.

● Keep book choices controversial; the more heated the arguments, the more enjoyable book club meeting are to attend.