M.J.
I like the idea, but unfortunately my son would not be interested. He's really active and has never enjoyed reading the way our daughter does. I think if you try a book club, you'd need to make a real effort to choose books that would appeal to boys, more than focusing on learning different cultures (although if you can find cool books that do that, it might work). It wouldn't matter to me the lead mom's background.
You can always just attempt to start one in your area and see how it goes.