As a writer, I obviously love books. I love the feel, the smell, the journey you take as you flip the page. Everything about a book can amaze if you let it and that is why I think book clubs are so great. Everyone has their own life, their own lens with which they see the world. Just imagine all of that experience tuned into one novel. How many thoughts and ideas could be created?
More importantly, think about how relatable novels can be. It doesn’t matter if it takes place in the Victorian era, space or if the main character is a zombie. All decent novels have some relatable aspect to them. Sometimes when I travel and cannot take a smorgasbord of books with me, I e-book it (but this is super rare). For some reason, I decided to look at a free novel on Kobo. It’s a nice site with a great selection. This book was an alien romance, oddly enough. I have no idea what made me read it when I’m comedy and thriller all the way, but I did. And after the first few pages I found out a long list of characteristics the main character had that I could relate to. For anyone interested the book is called Rescued by Tordin. The only regret I had was that I had no one to talk to about some of the things that were going on. Well, that and the fact that it was overly sappy.
I had one perspective, in full support of protagonist Kyra throwing hot coffee on her pervert boss but others may not see it that way. Others would have said she could go to his boss or just talk it out. Here I was screaming to myself, “Get another cup, girl! Give him what he deserves!” That isn’t the most politically correct way to handle the situation, I guess. I would have loved to talk to somebody about it almost as much as I love to talk about the classics.
I guess that is one reason grad school is so awesome, everyone discussing the same work with different backgrounds causes you to gain a new perspective, which is exactly what a good book club can do. It can build friendships too but that is a discussion for another day. I think that everyone should try a book club at least once in their life, even if it is a short one. You can make one with your friends and it can be a three book series that you talk about once a month. Books are your friends (at least from my long history of reading them) so why not discuss them with your 3D friends?
And if you are looking for suggestions, look no further:
Speculative Fiction
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Gone by Michael Grant
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Next week we can talk about Gothic. And if you were wondering, all of these have sequels except for Atwood’s beautiful piece which does not need one. But I do hear that the Canadian author may have one in the works. Awesome sauce!!!! Anyway, I’ve read all these books and they are amazing. Please, even if you just read the plot on Amazon, check them out. I am sure that there is someone you know who would be interested in having this book in their hands or in their ears (if they’re into that kind of thing.
So go out there and club it like you’ve never clubbed it before. You deserve it.
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