read between the runs

as i was sitting in a book club last night while we discussed yesteryear by caro claire burke, i kind of drifted my thinking away to “how did i get here”? surely a consequential question when considered at large, but mostly i was thinking relative to the discussion at hamd. i was sitting at a computer in my house, one thousand miles away from everyone in the book club, listening to people share thoughts i never would have had about a book i never otherwise would have read. it was such a cool thought, and following the book club (that i put attention back to), i wanted to set more thought to the beauty of book clubs. after coming back and reflecting about it throughout the day, i have a few reasons that i love book club.

i have the pleasure of being surrounded by other people in my life who are also lovers of reading. coupled with my voracious reading over the past few years, i found myself being asked to join several book clubs with friends. of course i couldn’t say no, so i find myself in five book clubs. that may sound like too many, but i have yet to feel overwhelmed by their number as the meetings for each are rarely quicker than once every six weeks. besides, i love the meetings and seeing my friends. and that’s a benefit of a book club! the community that you can build or sustain through participation is invaluable. two book clubs i’m in are with groups of people i would likely not have regular communication with given the absence of a book club. being able to maintain those friendships through the power of word is incredibly meaningful to me.

i’ve toggled with the idea of joining a community book club at a local bookstore, but i’m not sure that is something i am yet ready for. i love the people that i know and do not hold any strong interest in making any new friends presently. maybe that’s a goal for 2027 or if a current book club disintegrates.

on top of the benefit of community that book clubs inspire, i love book clubs for introducing me to books i would have not have read myself or even heard of otherwise. we all have our own spheres of influence and interests individually, but when we join a book club we give up some of our freedom in that choice. of course this depends on the types of book clubs that people enter, but allowing friends or strangers choose something that i will spend hours focused on feels strangely intimate. if given the choice, i would read primarily the same types of sci-fi, fantasy, or non-fiction books all the time, but a book club opens that world up. i am constantly “forced” to read books about topics i have never considered or found interesting. sure, sometimes these books end up being complete trash, but on those times when they become instant favorites i become evermore grateful for my book communities.

and of course, another last important aspect of book clubs is the different perspectives offered during discussion. we already established that book clubs bring new books to people to read, and the meetings do the same with interpretations of the story or content/material. when i read a book, my rating is almost entirely based on my overall enjoyment. i give little thought to character development, themes, or pure realism in a vacuum as i rate. so long as i enjoyed a story, i will rate it highly. by being in these book clubs, i re-realized that there is so much more to a book than whether i enjoyed it or not. it’s so enjoyable to hear about complex issues, structural analysis, or character critique from my smart friends. what makes book clubs work so well are the language and perspectives that each member brings to the discussion and how that leads to such different insights on the book.

last, the joy of book clubs is that afterwards, they just feel good. for whatever reason, when i remember that i have a book club on the docket coming up, i always experience a sense of dread. this doesn’t make any sense since literally i’m only in book clubs with my friends, but that’s just what it is. however, there has never been a time that i left a book club not feeling better than i did when i started. i feel better 100% of the time, always. being surrounded by people who share a similar passion as me, learning about new topics, and hearing from varied perspectives is a surefire way to boost dopamine or serotonin production (i’m not sure which one it is but i’m going to read and find out!).

if for some reason you have not joined a book club, i implore you to. i feel pretty strongly that you would not regret it.

do great; be happy