Love your book club, but hate buying a title you may end up hating? Me too. That’s why I always check the local library for the monthly book club selection before shelling out full price. It doesn’t always work, but it has saved me five or six times in the last few years. And a few of those books were ones I didn’t want to add to my collection. My only cost: time.

Another tip: my book club mates tend to slect titles that aren’t on the current best sellers list. It allows us to look on half.com or amazon for used books that cost a lot less than new. We may not be talking about Oprah’s latest and greatest author, but the discussions are no less lively or stimulating.