Every good project starts with a real problem. For me, it was the experience of trying to organize my own book club. This is the story of how those challenges led to creating this Book Club application.

The Spreadsheet Dilemma

Like many book clubs, ours started with enthusiasm and a shared love of reading. We were a small, tight-knit group determined to meet regularly and discuss great books. But almost immediately, we ran into practical challenges.

Our first hurdle was keeping track of book suggestions. Someone would mention a title during a meeting or in our group chat, and we'd dutifully add it to our shared online spreadsheet. It seemed like a good solution at first, but problems quickly emerged:

• Not everyone was comfortable using online spreadsheets
• People would forget to add books they mentioned
• The spreadsheet became unwieldy as it grew
• We had no easy way to vote on or prioritize suggestions
• Book details were inconsistent and often incomplete

The Scheduling Nightmare

Then came the challenge of scheduling meetings. Our approach was to use polling tools, but this often turned into a multi-week process:

1. Create a poll with 20 potential dates (the maximum allowed by the tool)
2. Wait for everyone to respond
3. Discover that there wasn't a single date that worked for everyone
4. Create a second poll with new dates
5. Repeat until we finally found a date

Being a small group, we really wanted to find times when everyone could attend. But this process was overly complex and as a tech enthusiast I knew there could be a better way.

We also tried using group chat polls, which helped with engagement but I had to type in all of the dates in the poll instead of having a calendar function. There was still no easy way to see everyone's availability patterns over time or to quickly identify the best meeting dates.

From Fragmentation to Inspiration

As a data scientist by profession, I found myself thinking about these problems analytically. What we needed wasn't just another reading app, there were plenty of those. We needed a platform specifically designed to address the practical challenges of running a book club.

I started researching existing solutions, but found that most book platforms focused on individual reading experiences or social networking around books. Few addressed the nitty-gritty organizational aspects of running a book club, especially for groups with varying levels of technical comfort.

The more I looked, the more I realized: I am going to build this myself especially now with the power of vibe coding.

Building the Solution

I began sketching out what would eventually become Book Club with a few core principles in mind:

• Simplicity first: It had to be accessible to everyone, regardless of technical ability
• Focused functionality: Solve specific book club problems rather than trying to be everything to everyone
• Rich book data: Leverage existing book APIs (like Hardcover, which has been invaluable) to provide comprehensive information
• Smart features: Use my data science background to incorporate AI where it could genuinely help

The development process wasn't always smooth. I used AI to help with coding (I'm more data scientist than web developer), which accelerated the process but came with its own learning curve. There were late nights debugging and moments of doubt about whether anyone else would even want this solution.

The Result: A Platform Built from Real Experience

What makes Book Club different is that it wasn't designed in a vacuum. Every feature addresses a specific pain point I experienced firsthand with my own book club. It's not trying to be a social network or a comprehensive reading tracker—it's laser-focused on making book clubs work better.

Some of my favorite features that emerged from our real-world challenges:

• Easy Book Search and one-click to your collection: No more forgotten suggestions or incomplete information
• Meeting availability visualization: Quickly see patterns in when people are available
• AI-generated discussion questions: Never stare at a silent room again
• Statistical book recommendation: Using significance testing to suggest books most likely to please the group
• Random selection option: For when you want to try something completely unexpected

The platform has transformed how our own club operates. Our book suggestion list is now rich with details and images, scheduling takes minutes instead of weeks, and our discussions are more engaging thanks to the AI-generated questions.

Looking Forward

Book Club is still evolving. I'm constantly gathering feedback from our users and implementing improvements. As a data scientist, I'm particularly excited about expanding the AI capabilities in ways that genuinely enhance the reading experience without getting in the way.

What started as a solution to my own book club's problems has grown into something I'm proud to share with other reading groups. If you've ever felt the frustration of trying to organize a book club with tools that weren't designed for it, I built this for you.

I'd love to hear about your book club experiences and challenges. What tools are you using now? What problems are you still trying to solve? Your feedback will help shape the future of Book Club.