High School Co-op Book Club/Class Help?

I am teaching our co-op’s (not a CM group!) HS lit class this year.  I have described the class as a book club with narration and discussion rather than analysis and traditional homework.  I said that I want the students to read the books for pleasure and that I will guide the discussion through narration and open-ended discussion.  But now I have to figure out how to do that in a 50 minute class once a week.  Has anyone done something like this?  To appease some parents, I have to offer suggestions of “gradable” work that can be done at home like essays or reports, but they will be the parents’ responsibility.

I’m looking for ways to help them engage with the variety of novels (Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, 1984, etc) instead of reading for analysis like they’ve done up until now.  I do need a rubric to keep for class participation and to show that they are keeping up with the reading – something I can use during our discussion time.  We will do one Shakespeare play during class, much like the model used in the three steps books.  All I know for sure is that they will read at home and we will discuss in class.

I’m not actually sure how to apply the narration model to a classroom of students who are used to worksheets, although I’m very excited to break them free – ha, ha!  I want to offer some background resources on the authors and their times and cultures but don’t want to force-feed them.  Anyone who can share ideas, resources, experience – I’d appreciate it!