Let’s Talk about Book Clubs
Did you know that the earliest recorded book club was more or less a Bible study group in North America?
In 1634, Anne Hutchinson began a scripture reading cycle during a boat ride from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. From then on, book clubs have evolved from exclusive middle- and upper-class Europeans, to including working class women.
Today, there are more book clubs than ever, from school children, blue collared workers, elite members of the society or the lovely regular members of your local libraries. With the addition of having an online platform to reach out to people who cant meet in person due to life’s busy schedules, becoming a book club member has never been easier and more accessible.
And being part of a book club is really something that one will look forward to, because really, there are so many benefits that includes:
- It is an affordable way to connect with other people and make new friends.
- Interaction during book club meetings sharpens memory and cognitive skills.
- It promotes better reading and commitment to reading.
- It helps us learn from different perspective and become a better conversationalist.
From Dalby to Wandoan, Western Down Libraries has various book club groups which are always open for new members to join.
Take a look at some of this great reads that our book club members are talking about:
The Good Son – Jacquelyn Mitchard
Stefan was just 17 when he went to prison for the drug-fuelled murder of his girlfriend, Belinda. Three years later, he’s released to a world that refuses to let him move on. Belinda’s mother galvanises the community to rally against him to protest in her daughter’s memory. The media paints Stefan as a symbol of white privilege and indifferent justice. Neighbours, employers, even some members of his mother Thea’s own family turn away.
Meanwhile, Thea struggles to understand her son. At times, he is still the sweet boy he has always been, at others, he is a young man tormented by guilt and almost broken by his time in prison. But as his efforts to make amends meet escalating resistance and threats, Thea suspects more forces are at play than just community outrage. And if there is so much she never knew about her own son, what other secrets has she yet to uncover – especially about the night Belinda died?
Larrimah – Caroline Graham
Larrimah: hot, barren, a speck of dust in the centre of the nothingness of outback Australia. Where you might find a death adder in the bar and a spider or ten in the toaster.
Maybe it’s stupid to write a love letter to a town that looks like this, especially when it’s someone else’s town. A town where there’s nothing to see, nothing to buy and the closest thing to an attraction is a weird Pink Panther in a gyrocopter whose head falls off intermittently. A town steeped in ancient superstition and pockmarked with sinkholes. It’s Kadaitja country. People go missing in the bush there, the traditional owners say.
It’s doubly stupid to write a love letter to a town where someone did go missing and one of the remaining residents might be a murderer. A town at the centre of one of the biggest mysteries outback Australia has ever seen – a weird, swirling whodunnit about camel pies and wild donkeys and drug deals and crocodiles, a case that’s had police scratching their heads for years. While journalists and filmmakers and Hollywood turn up, from time to time, to ask what the hell happened here.
And it makes no sense to fall for a place when the town is crumbling into the dust and it looks a lot like your love letter might end up being a eulogy.
But whatever happened in Larrimah, it’s strange and precious and surprisingly funny. Journalists Kylie Stevenson and Caroline Graham have spent years trying to pin it down – what happened to Paddy Moriarty and his dog, how they disappeared, how they might take the whole town and something even bigger with them.
So if you are interested, why not head to your nearest branch and ask your friendly library staffs how you can become a book club member? Or jump online to see when book club is meeting in a library near you.
For those with busy schedules, check out our Online Bookclub. This virtual bookclub offers the perfect platform for you to indulge in your love for reading, no matter how busy your schedules may be.