Books should be less than 400 pages. Slightly over is OK, but this length means people have the time to read it. (The Sci Fi group has a longer limit of 500 as it meets every 6 weeks.)
Books should not be part of a series/volume. This means readers don't miss out on part of the story.
Books should be available in paperback and easily sourced from the usual book shops and websites.
Books that contain writing with certain themes that may put off, or even trigger people should be flagged well in advance. This is important as content such as violence, abuse or other emotive subjects can be distressing to read. With this in mind, please make sure that if you suggest a book which may be distressing to some readers, please mention when you make your suggestion in the meeting. The onus is on the person making the suggestion to either have read or to have done some research into the book before suggesting it. There are resources such as https://www.doesthedogdie.com/ and https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PHlA7QglPpKRbOVEKc_0BCjRmZ8PWPLr3t_wMnggsAg/edit#gid=214254319 which may help this. Publishers sometimes include trigger warning information as a link on their websites or as a QR code inside the front or back cover of the book.
This last rule is important as we want to be mindful of suggesting people read content that may affect them adversely.
To cover the costs of being hosted by the meetup website we charge a small fee of £1 per meeting attended- you can choose how to pay based on what suits you and how many times you plan to attend. There is no cost for your first meeting, so do come and try us for free!