So, I love to read. I love to read what I like to read. I like mystery/thriller/romance and happy endings. I occasionally pick up a biography, business book, or one on faith, but for the most part I like to read for entertainment. When you join a book club you are forced to read things you might never have picked up – ever! Who am I kidding: I would never have picked them up! This has actually been a really good challenge for me.
With the book club, I have read books that have helped me understand times in our history I know nothing about, it has helped me see other countries in a different light, it has helped me try new genres like dystopian novels, and it has even made me deal with some difficult topics that I don’t like facing. I help with the Well Red book club at GPL and some of the books we have read have been really, really great – and I would never had read them had I not been a part of the book club. I am so glad I joined in these conversations about life from all different angles. Some of my favorites were: The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai – about living in Vietnam during the war; The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – about the Japanese internment camps in the US; There, There by Tommy Orange – about life as a Native American in the US; and Ready Player One (that dystopian stuff).
I highly recommend joining a book club, or at least picking up a recommended book that you would normally never read. Stick with it until the end and maybe discuss it with a friend or coworker or read the discussion questions on the website. It can be fascinating and fun. Don’t get me wrong, there are still books I will never like – horror comes to mind – but, at least now I am willing to give it a try. Now when we get “assigned” a book club book that I roll my eyes and breathe a heavy sigh about, I pick it up and read it all the way through! I have come to appreciate all kinds of genres I would never have read on my own. I am a better person for it.
