HISTORY OF BOOK CLUBS.

As a phenomenon in American Culture life , book clubs have made an impact in two parts of history .During the 18th centuary and the 19th centuary book clubs were formed for the purpose of discussions and debate. Foremost among these was the Junto , a litreary society formed by Benjamin Franklin in 1726. The late 20th centuary saw a revival of such book clubs , with the notable addition of on-line clubs and Oprah Winfrey's televised club.

The common 20th century understanding of book clubs is not a club at all, but an organization that promotes the mail order sale of books. Among the best known are the Book of The Month Club , with its offshoot paperback book clubs and the Literary Guild. There are also clubs devoted to more specialized interests and forms , such as science fiction , cooking gardening etc.

Mail order clubs set as they are to ensure that the tastes and choices of their readers will be met , are models of mass production and distribution methods aimed to su ply individual consumers. These mail order clubs enjoy large memberships , they lost some ground to the rise of discount chain bookstores in the 1980's and on-line booksellers in the late 1990's.

Currently, there is lot of interest in book clubs, we can classify them in four ways.

1. Web -Based Book Clubs.
2. Web-Enhanced Book Clubs.
3.E-mail Oriented
4. Live Chat.

At present in India there are hardly any active reading clubs which meet at regular intervals.There are sporadic reading events , but these are mainly held during a launch of a book by the author and the publishing company.These evants are restricted to the elite gropus and the authors' close friends

The problem arises that where does this leave the arednt lovers of books.....

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