Book Girl: A Journey Through the Treasures & Transforming Power of a Reading Life by Sarah Clarkson.
Book Girl Discussion Question #5: In chapter 2 the author gives suggestions for reading in fellowship. Do any of these recommendations resonate with you? Are there any that you’d like to implement?
Sarah’s suggestions and my response to each:
Start a book group. I’ve been wanting to do this for quite a while, and it’s just now coming together. Our first book club meeting is this week, and we’re discussing Book Girl by Sarah Clarkson! I’m excited about this new adventure with a group of ladies that I love and whose opinions I value.
Start a read aloud poetry group. This kind of group is something else I’ve considered for a while, but I think I’ll stick to the books club for now. Maybe we’ll eventually incorporate poetry into the book club meetings.
Start a book blog. Been there, done that. I began this blog back in 2003, (wow!), and it’s still going. Thank you to all the readers I’ve met online who have interacted with me here at Semicolon. I’ve enjoyed all the discussions of books and reading and even current events that have taken place here in my little corner of the internet, and I look forward to much more literary review and reflection.
Consider a local or online course in literature. Not now for me, but I have enjoyed the literature courses I’ve taken in the past.
I have a couple more suggestions for reading in community:
Join an online reading group or book club. If you can’t get an in-person book club started, there are many reading challenges and books clubs online. Modern Mrs. Darcy has an online community where readers discuss books that are selected by the inimitable Anne Bogel. Literary Life Podcast with Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins has a reading discussion group on Facebook. If you’re a member of the Reshelving Alexandria Facebook page, there’s a Reshelving Alexandria Reads page as well where members discuss specific book selections. There are many, many others as well.
Find a reading partner. Unlike a book club, which does take a lot of planning and organization, just getting together with a friend once or twice a month to discuss what each of you is reading is a low-stress, low-maintenance way to read in community. I do this kind of discussion informally with my library patrons, and I can see ways to incorporate more reading discussions into my life with friends and family.
How do you find ways to talk about books and reading with your reading friends? Or to use Sarah Clarkson’s terms, how do you “read in community or in fellowship”?
I don’t care for book clubs, but I do have 3 real world friends (2 of whom live far away) with whom I talk and share books. One thing I do sometimes, if I really love a book, is to send them each a copy (or some of them, depending on the book). But for sure we recommend to each other and compare notes at a high level. One of them reads my blog, where I do post lists of what I’ve read, and what I thought about those books. And of course I read blogs and talk books with people that way :-).