This week’s musing asks…
Do you belong to any book clubs -- face-to-face, or online? If so, how long have you been with the group(s)? If not, why?
Yes, I’m in online book clubs. I started my own online book club with a friend about a year ago. It’s a small group of about 6 or 7 friends of mine that live in different places. We read mainly YA fiction and we are working on the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld right now.
I’m also in a book club on goodreads. One of the people in my book club runs her own on goodreads. The group is way more active than my own, which is nice. It can be difficult to juggle 2 book clubs on top of my own personal reading goals, but I like the challenge. I’ve only been in this group for a couple months.
I wish I could have a physical book club and host the discussions, but I just don’t have enough local friends here to be able to do that and I’m probably moving again in less than a year. I remember looking online for book clubs in the area and I found a bunch of Harlequin readers and I’d rather not read those books. I’m pretty eclectic in my book reading, so I find it difficult to join other people’s clubs. Luckily, the one on goodreads is just as eclectic as I am, so it works out well.
The best part about book clubs is the chance to discuss books and hear what other people have to say about it. Reading can be kind of one sided in that your perceptions are normally the only ones you get, unless the author has a little questionnaire interview in the back of the book that can give you more insight. Book clubs help to widen my views and help me understand how other people see the same book. I once read that it is very helpful to aspiring writers to discuss books because they have a clearer understanding of their audience when they hear more than just their own views.
