Hello again!
I'm hoping to get back on a regular schedule of one post a week, so bear with me as I navigate this particularly busy time of the year! In the meantime, I wanted to share a new experience of mine that I'm really enjoying -- that is, online bookclubs!
When I was younger, I joined a book club along with a group of my grade-level peers. I was relatively shy, so joining a discussion-based group felt intimidating to me, but it turned out to be my absolute favorite extracurricular. The group was run by a retired teacher (a woman who was an incredible role model for me at that age) and as I approach the finish line of grad school and daydream about my teaching practices in the future, I can't help but hope that one day I can establish a book club in that same tradition. The book club was made up of at least 10 girls, and we remained a group for years. We discussed one book each month (much of the time they are the books that still stand out to me now from childhood) and occasionally we dipped our toes into the author pool and tried our hand at writing our own fiction stories. I loved that the meetings brought together girls from all different friend groups and I was always so excited to pick up the next month's book and dive in to reading.
I'm hoping to get back on a regular schedule of one post a week, so bear with me as I navigate this particularly busy time of the year! In the meantime, I wanted to share a new experience of mine that I'm really enjoying -- that is, online bookclubs!
When I was younger, I joined a book club along with a group of my grade-level peers. I was relatively shy, so joining a discussion-based group felt intimidating to me, but it turned out to be my absolute favorite extracurricular. The group was run by a retired teacher (a woman who was an incredible role model for me at that age) and as I approach the finish line of grad school and daydream about my teaching practices in the future, I can't help but hope that one day I can establish a book club in that same tradition. The book club was made up of at least 10 girls, and we remained a group for years. We discussed one book each month (much of the time they are the books that still stand out to me now from childhood) and occasionally we dipped our toes into the author pool and tried our hand at writing our own fiction stories. I loved that the meetings brought together girls from all different friend groups and I was always so excited to pick up the next month's book and dive in to reading.
I craved having that same type of community throughout college but never thought that a book club would be interesting to enough college students -- most of the time when I brought up the idea people would laugh at the concept of spending free time on more (unmandated) reading. I totally understand that feeling, because college can certainly be a place that discourages reading for pleasure.
Since I'm in a busy season -- and in between living on my own and frequently returning home -- a real book club still isn't in the cards for me right now. However, I recently joined two book clubs online and am loving the experience so far.
The first is Emma Watson's feminist book club, for which I just read My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem (review coming next week!) and the second is The College Prepster Book Club, run by one of my favorite bloggers. I just finished the book for that (The Fortune Hunter), so keep an eye out for that review as well. I haven't yet participated in the discussions online but I love knowing that a like-minded group of readers are enjoying the same book as me. I'm not sure I'll read the book every month (more likely, every other month) but I know so far that both are motivating me to read books that I wouldn't normally pick.
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Are you a member of a book club? I'd love to hear about your experience!
Happy Reading!
-Madeleine-
I have never been in any "real life" book clubs, but I have tried joining Goodreads book clubs. Last year I joined a few, but I wasn't really active. I found it difficult to really keep up with all the conversations and they kept reading books I wasn't interested in or already read. But I am trying again this year. I joined all new ones that are more targeted to my favorite genres and for the most part, are all brand new! That helps me a lot.
ReplyDeleteMolly @ Molly's Book Nook