Reading is usually considered a solitary endeavour, but book groups transform it into a community-focused activity. When I first joined a book group at Avid Reader in Brisbane’s West End, I was hoping to make new friends and broaden my reading horizons, but I got so much more than that. I became part of a diverse and thriving community and understood the benefits of reading.
Creating community
Marlo Spikin, facilitator of the Queer Literature Book Club at Avid, spoke to me about creating a space of inclusivity, not exclusivity. “I had always wanted to join a book club,” Marlo told me. “I felt this keenly when, in my 20s, some friends participated in an invite-only book club that I wasn’t invited to. I think this exclusivity created a template of what I wanted to rebel against when I was approached to take over facilitating an already-established book club.” Marlo fosters this book group community by giving all members a chance to vote on future books and by actively listening to everyone’s perspectives. “Everyone is encouraged to be exactly who they want to be,” says Marlo.
Not everyone has the same opinion on the books they read and sharing different perspectives and insights is an important part of the reading process. Marlo encourages everyone to have a voice and speak from their heart when it comes to discussing what we’ve read. “For me, as facilitator, enabling a space of belonging, where every self, idea and perspective is valid is incredibly beneficial and essential,” she says. “We share insights and parts of ourselves; sometimes there’s harmony and sometimes there’s a rich diversity of opinions that expand my mind. And I am forever grateful for that.”
Meeting new people
Engaging with a love of literature in a nurturing, community environment is one of the many benefits of joining a book club; meeting new people is another. Enthusiastic reader, Kiri Greenhill, says her book club has evolved from a group of strangers discussing books to a community of connected people. “It has become a family,” says Kiri. “Our book club has members of different ages, identities and backgrounds. It has people with vastly different careers and interests, yet when we all come together, everyone has a place.” No matter your age, background, identity or opinion of the book, a book club can be the perfect place to carve a space for yourself and feel included.
Queer Book Club member, Anabelle Cooper, tells me they joined a book club to meet new people who had a shared interest. “I gravitated towards a queer book club as a shared genre interest, but mainly because I wanted to meet more queer people,” they say. “Being among other queer people gives a sense of safety, which lets me get even more out of our book discussions.”
Sharing the joy of reading
There is much to be said for the benefits of reading alongside other people: the shared joy of reading, hearing differing opinions, increased critical thinking and more. “I love how book clubs are all about sharing the joy of reading,” says Anabelle when we spoke about the structured environment of book groups that so often leads to fruitful discussions. “I love hearing other people’s thoughts about books.”
Reading is so often thought of as something we do on our own and isn’t considered a shared activity. “People often think of reading as a solitary activity,” Anabelle tells me. “But the act of sharing and discussing books is very communal.”
Thankfully, this act of sharing doesn’t need to include a strict deadline or a well-written essay — book group isn’t like high school. “I love that some people come and have a lot to share,” Kiri tells me. “Some prefer to listen, sometimes people haven’t yet finished the book and occasionally we get someone who hasn’t even read it yet, but they feel comfortable enough to come along to hear what the group thought anyway.”
Book clubs give you a reading deadline, which you have the option to adhere to or not, because let’s face it, sometimes life gets in the way! “There is no judgement or expectations,” says Kiri. “Everyone is welcome just exactly as they are.”
Expanding your reading
Not everyone reads the same type of books and expanding my reading horizons has been one of my favourite things about joining a book group. As an avid fan of poetry and young adult fiction, book group has broadened my appetite for thrillers, short story collections and memoirs. “Some books I wouldn’t have read by myself,” agrees Anabelle. “And hearing about what value other people got out of them, even if I didn’t like the book, makes the experience all the more valuable.”
Seeing the different ways in which my fellow book group members read and experience books has been another step in expanding my reading habits. “I have come to realise we all experience books differently and what we take away from it can be very diverse,” says Kiri. “There have been times where I haven’t loved the book while reading it, but after hearing the group’s perspectives, I’ve come away with a lot more appreciation for the book.”
This increased appreciation comes back to community and the diversity of books, people and opinions that so many book groups have to offer. “Sometimes the best discussions occur when members have drastically varied opinions of the book,” agrees Kiri. “Other times people highlight things I may have missed or things they connected with due to their life experiences that are different to mine. I absolutely love enhancing my understanding and experience of that book through other people’s eyes and hearts.”
Book clubs can be so much more than their stereotypes of wine and neighbourhood gossip. They are a transformative experience where you can read along with others and find your place in a community. “Books may be the conduit,” says Marlo. “But really it’s our own stories that bring us together to sit in a circle, illuminating us and inspiring us onwards.”
Rae White is a non-binary transgender writer and the editor of #EnbyLife, a journal for non-binary and gender-diverse creatives. Their poetry collection, Milk Teeth, (UQP 2018) won the 2017 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. Rae’s second poetry collection, Exactly As I Am, is out now through UQP.
