What are the benefits of belonging to a book club? Are you in a book club?
10 Benefits of Book Club
I read an interesting article that piqued my interest: The Hottest New Social Scene Might be a Book Club. Reading surged during the Pandemic. Many Independent Book Stores thrived while other small businesses struggled. The joys of reading are being rediscovered and book clubs are reimagined as we grow weary of our screens and crave connection and more authentic experiences. Book clubs are especially popular because each one is unique, and readers make their own rules. Are you in a book club?
I’m linking up today with That Artsy Reading Girl for Top Ten Tuesday. Today’s topic is Books That Feature Travel, but last August, I wrote a TTT post featuring books about travel here. To avoid repetition, I’m going rogue today and talking about the benefits of Book Clubs!
1. Book Clubs are a Place to Belong
We all have a desire to belong. A book club with like-minded members can fill the desire for in-real-life (IRL) social connections. Do you find that more people are cutting back on their screen time to enjoy more real-life experiences?
2. Reading People are the Best People
Reading people tend to be thoughtful, inquisitive, and compassionate.
3. Bookish Conversations Lead to Important Life Discussions
Discussing a book is one of the best ways to get to know a person because book discussions open the door to meaningful conversation about the important things in life.
4. Book Clubs Encourage Reading Out of Your Comfort Zone
Reading out of your comfort zone can be a positive or a negative about book club. You might discover a genre you adore or dislike intensely. The best book clubs will welcome you to the meeting, whether or not you’ve enjoyed the book. Controversial books can generate lively conversations.
5. Book Clubs Promote Literacy
As you participate in book club, you are among other readers who celebrate the written word and value a rich reading life.
6. Book Clubs Offer Differing Opinions and Insights
No two persons read the same book is never more evident than at a book club! Sharing our opinions and insights provides opportunities to hone listening skills, broaden perspectives, and demonstrate tolerance and understanding.
7. Book Clubs Satisfy the Need for Book Talk
It’s one thing to read in isolation, but talking about our reading is another aspect of a satisfying reading life. Do you ever feel an urge to share your current read with anyone who will listen?
8. Food and Fellowship at Book Club
One thing the Pandemic demonstrated is that we need social contact with others. The joy of being in someone’s home and enjoying uplifting, stimulating conversation and simple refreshment cannot be underrated. Bring on the delicious cookies, fruit tray, charcuterie, or scrumptious cake!
9. Book Clubs are Easy and Inexpensive
Books Clubs can be SIMPLE! Compared to theme parks, air travel, hotels, restaurants, etc., a book is an inexpensive form of entertainment. Books are free at your local library and can be bought for low prices at yard sales and thrift stores. A book + a plate of cookies + an invitation = book club! See this post on How to Start a Book Club for more ideas. I’ve developed five FREE Book Club Kits here.
10. Book Clubs Make Their Own Rules
The article I cited in my introduction highlights the desire for Off-Screen Connection. IRL Book Clubs to the rescue! Of course, the book clubs mentioned in the article are more adventurous than a traditional book club you might have imagined. However, this illustrates that book clubs can take various forms. There are really no rules in book club!
My real life book club is actually a “literacy club” where we each talk about our current reads instead of all reading the same book.
QOTD:
Are you in a Book Club?
Do you crave IRL social connections?
Let’s Get Social!
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“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke
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I really should join a book club sometime!
Or start your own! 🙌📚
Though I love to read, I’ve never been in a book club! Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
Think of TTT as one big book club! 😂📚 I’m hopping over to read your post!
I used to be in “Book Bunch”, which was an informal gathering of people who would report on what they were reading every week. We’d lend books to members after we’d read them, so while we often read the same things it wasn’t simutaneous. Unfortunately, COVID more or less ended it: by the time the library was able to allow events again, some people had gotten out of the habit, and others had died. Now I do something even MORE informal, which is going to my indie bookstore on Saturday mornings. A few people in my community like to hang out there and drink coffee and talk about what we’re reading, but there’s no plan to it whatsoever. If our visits to the bookstore happen at the same time, we talk; if not, we don’t.
I think book clubs can take a variety of forms and can be whatever you want! Anywhere you talk about books can be a book club or you can think of it as a literacy group! Thanks for stopping by and sharing! 🙌📚
I’ve attended a very casual book club a few times in the past year. The group gathers a couple of times a month for a bit of socializing and a bit of reading. Everyone reads whatever they want for about 30 minutes. And then after that time, we go around and share what we’re reading and give mini-reviews on it. Sometimes we’ll discuss other bookish things. I’ve only been able to go a few times because of my work schedule-starting work at 5am makes it hard to do things too late in the evening!
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/lost-in-translation-eleven-favorite-translated-fiction/
I love the idea of silent book club! So many cool variations of book club to explore! Thanks for sharing! 🙌📚
Hooray for book clubs!
It’s the simple pleasures! 📚🌻
Both the IRL book groups I belong to are also ‘literacy clubs’, Carol. I think they are more fun. 💖📚
Yes, we enjoy ours!
I love this! Book people really are the best people! I love my book club friends so much — and some, I’ve never even met in person. We’re an online group, and while some of us have had the opportunity to meet up IRL, we live all over the place. But it’s so much fun, and I adore both the books we read and discuss as well as our Zoom chats.
So fun to hear about your online book club! 🙌
I’ve always assumed that book clubs are too people-y for this introvert, but on a whim I joined a starter club last fall. Shockingly, (or not at all) most of the attendees think the same as I do. But we’re all good with talking about books. Now, I’m in 2 of them!
book people are the best people and, although I’m an introvert, I’m extroverted on the topic of books!
My fear with a “literacy club” like you described is that it’d result in “6 (or however many other attendees there are) new books I have to buy per meeting” rather than just the 1 for a “we’re all reading the same book” club. 🙂
#Bookproblems are the best problems! LOL
[…] (also, the World’s Worst Book post linked to in the first sentence is almost as good a read) Benefits of Book Club When Fantasy Meets Mystery: Fantasy-mysteries that Everyone Should Read […]
Thanks! 📚🙌🌻
All very good reasons to join a book club. I’ve certainly benefited over the years in terms of the number of authors I’ve been introduced to, many of them in genres I wouldn’t have chosen of my own accord. However, I’ve just dropped out of the club I’ve been in for the last 7 years – there was one member who loved to dominate the discussion and didn’t like it if you challenger her opinion. So it stopped being enjoyable. I might look for a different group next year if I find I’m missing out on all the book chat
That’s unfortunate when one person spoils a book club. I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe you can start your own?
too much like hard work!!!
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