Even though I really love to read, I鈥檝e never been part of a sustained, organized book club. One of my favorite elements of college was the discussion sections for my English classes. I enjoy thinking about aspects of a text, analyzing them, and also getting to hear what others thought. Of my friends who鈥檝e been part of book clubs, the general consensus seems to be, that after the first meeting or so, no one usually ends up reading the book, and the get-togethers become more haphazard and purely social affairs (which can also be fun, but deviate from the original goal.)
I鈥檝e thought about trying to start a book club at the library. Do you think that students would want to participate, or are they too entrenched in their own studies, to want to pick up additional reading? Do you think library staff, or other faculty and staff from the Northeastern community would be interested? And how narrow of a book club topic yields the best inquiry?
I think it would be great to start a book club in the library. I would partner with someone else on campus, if you have any friends in another department, just to make it more broad-based.
There is an Asian American Center Book Club on campus already, Maria’s a member I think. There may be others, too. It might be easier to join an already existing book club!
A few years ago there used to be a library-staff internal book club, for a bit. I think the people who organized it don’t work here any more, though. But it had a following for a little while, at any rate. I didn’t participate because I couldn’t commit to getting the reading done in time. 馃檪 Others might know more…?
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