Design, Habits, and Storytelling

I recommend a lot of books to a lot of people.  Typically, I'm reading something and it reminds me of a conversation I've had with a friend so I drop everything and call, text, or e-mail them. Sometimes the book rec is warmly received and I hear back about how much they enjoyed it.  Most of them the time it's, "Oh that's cool, I'll have to check that out," and we all know what that means.  It's understandable, though.  Suggesting to someone that they spend a significant chunk of their time on something they may or may not enjoy is a lot to ask, especially if they didn't discover the book on their own.  

In the past, I've tried to think of ways to create a group of people focused on learning from books.  Essentially a book club, but less nerdy and never referring to itself as such.  But, people don't seem to "have the time" for that kind of archaic mind work.  I realized today that all I'm looking for is a connection.  Someone to call when I read a great story by Gladwell or a practical insight from Babauta and have them say "yeah, I loved that part, too" or "I haven't gotten there yet", or "I hated that part".  These kind of connections are rare, but so valuable when they happen.