{"id":29,"date":"2023-09-20T13:38:12","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T17:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonusroombooks.com\/?p=29"},"modified":"2023-09-20T13:38:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T17:38:12","slug":"why-my-book-club-is-probably-better-than-yours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonusroombooks.com\/?p=29","title":{"rendered":"Why My Book Club is Probably Better Than\u00a0Yours."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After a recent move from Washington state to central Virginia, I embarked on my search for a new book club. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t love to read in isolation. The best kind of reading is the kind that comes with conversation. I don\u2019t mind if people don\u2019t have the same opinion as me, I just want to compare notes. Moving to a new state means I have to find all new book people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In case you were wondering, yes, I\u2019m aware that people talk about books on social media. Bookstagram and BookTok are huge and great resources to hear about new titles out, or emerging indie authors. But nothing can replace the back-and-forth of a conversation, in real time, about a book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Aung Soe Min<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nine years ago, my book club in Washington started out as a party of two: my sister-in-law and me. We were both newish to the area and wanted to start a book club, but were hesitant about inviting anyone to join at the outset. We knew that book clubs can start with the best intentions, but if you can\u2019t align with what books you want to read, or the format of the meetings, it can quickly turn into an unsatisfying obligation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slowly, we added one person at a time over the next year, seeking out people who were Readers. We didn\u2019t discriminate on genre or favorite titles. We got all kinds of readers over the years, from people who only read Jane Austen or regency romance, to only sci-fi\/fantasy readers. We had one member who didn\u2019t like to read fiction and would only suggest nonfiction titles. There was no reading prerequisite to join.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What mattered is that they were willing to try something different and new, and come and talk about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Alexis Brown<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Every January, we would meet with stacks of suggestions and pick everything we were going to read that year. We tried to choose books across styles and genres so that over the course of the year, everyone would have read something they wouldn\u2019t necessarily have chosen on their own, but also would have a favorite author or genre to enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a great system. We grew every year until the pandemic, then shrank when we couldn\u2019t meet in person. Since then, we slowly grew back up to an intimate group of 6 or 7. That seemed to be the sweet spot. The conversations were amazing, the nights would go late, and the reading was challenging, enlarging, and beautiful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Sanjeevan SatheesKumar<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is the baggage I\u2019m carrying into my next book club. I can\u2019t join a genre-bound group after reading across genres for years, but those seem the most common. I\u2019ve never been a genre-specific reader and the thought of being limited by it is discouraging. I\u2019ve been in clubs where it turns into more of a support group for moms and the book is long forgotten. I\u2019ve been invited to clubs that are full of less-than-enthusiastic readers, dominating oversharers, or literary snobs. It\u2019s all exhausting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My best bet right now is to bring up reading in casual conversation and see if I can find my people. Honestly, most readers are my people simply because they read. The hardest part is done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenny Hahn reads and blogs at <\/em>bonusroombooks.com<\/em><\/a> where she helps readers find their people and new titles to try.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a recent move from Washington state to central Virginia, I embarked on my search for a new book club.  I don\u2019t love to read in isolation. The best kind of reading is the kind that comes with conversation. I don\u2019t mind if people don\u2019t have the same opinion as me, I just want to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonusroombooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonusroombooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonusroombooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonusroombooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonusroombooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bonusroombooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30,"href":"https:\/\/bonusroombooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions\/30"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonusroombooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonusroombooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonusroombooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}