The Book Club Revival
Book clubs, also known as literary discussion groups in fancier circles, went out of fashion as the digital age took over our lives and public libraries became less frequented. However, they have made a resurgence in recent times.
A short history on the book club
Most book clubs today are open to everyone, and you can join quite easily if you wish to, however historically, the majority of book clubs were made by women for women before the female rights movement took full force. Some of the earliest reports of book clubs date all the way back to the 17th century where women met to discuss weekly church sermons and study the bible, and soon more and more groups formed to discuss literature beyond religious texts. As women progressively gained more rights in the 1800s, they gained more access to various literature, both fiction and non-fiction, such as Shakespeare as well as the daily news. An important aspect to note is that book clubs also significantly contributed to women’s fight for more rights, as they gathered hundreds of women together, allowed them to exchange ideas and empower one another. Female book clubs even led to the founding of schools, libraries and college scholarships for girls and women, thereby proving that women are intellectuals and belong in educational and professional environments too.
The rise in popularity – being “in”
Soon after, book clubs emerged all over the world, for men and women alike, including clubs founded by famous people, such as Benjamin Franklin and more recently Oprah Winfrey. This increase in the number of book clubs coincided with a rapid increase in their popularity, which cannot only be traced back to their intellectual aspect, of reading a book and discussing it, but particularly to the social benefits of joining a book club.
Book clubs allow you to read a recommended book, form an opinion on it and discuss it with others, thereby getting the benefit of other people’s opinions on what you have read, but it also gives you the chance to find friends who have similar interests as you. Being part of a book club can even help you with your own writing (regardless of if you are just dabbling with it or growing into being an avid writer), because it allows you to dissect themes, characters and plots, as well as learning what readers enjoy. Finally, there are also the other obvious benefits, such as escaping reality for a short period of time and delving into whatever it is that you are reading, perhaps going back to the 60s and studying movie icons, or just enjoying a modern thriller.
Apart from the social benefits of being in a book club, their being “in”again is largely due to social media and the pandemic, which gave us vast amounts of time to revive our desire to read and escape the boredom and panic of quarantine. Specifically TikTok, which experienced most of its growth in terms of content creators and user base during the pandemic, has gotten people obsessed with reading. The side of TokTok known as BookTok gained popularity towards the end of 2020 and led to more and more creators sharing what they are reading and allowing for a community to discuss the topics of their reads, which has grown to encompass hundreds of thousands of visitors. BookTok specifically has opened up a space for the discussion of important topics such as LGTBQI+ and BIPOC rights, equality and climate change within literature, that are often less addressed within the literature read in schools. In addition, the many celebrity book clubs such as those by Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Books), Emma Roberts (Belletrist) and Kaia Gerber (on Kaia Gerber’s Instagram) also propelled book clubs to increased popularity.
What’s hot right now – the recommendations
So finally, what are book clubs reading at the moment? Here are some of the gathered recommendations from a vast variety of genres (as well as some books that I have recently read and loved):
Worn: A People's History of Clothing by Sofi Thanhauser (fashion, fashion history)
The Seven Husbands of Evely Hugo (historic fiction)
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (romance, historic fiction)
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (fiction, psycho-thriller, mystery)
Over My Dead Body by Jeffrey Archer (thriller, suspense, fiction)
Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde (“Novel-in-Stories of Queerness and Corruption”)
Finding Me by viola Davis (autobiography)
Normal People by Sally Rooney (fiction, romance, coming-of-age)
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (war novel, fiction)
The Investigator by John Sandford (mystery, crime, suspense)
Freezing Order by Bill Browder (non-fiction)
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey (autobiography, memoir, advice-book)
Girls Can Kiss Now by Jill Gutowitz (humor, biography, social-issues)
Death On The Nile by Agatha Christie (mystery, crime, classic)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (fiction, coming-of-age, classic)
That being said, if you’re not sure a book club is the right place for you, but you still want to be an active part of the literature world and see what others are reading and loving, you can download goodreads and connect with friends, strangers and celebrities to receive recommendations and explore at your own pace.
