Book Clubbin'

Alex, Chad, Amanda, Brigitte and I were in a book club together for The Hunger Games series. We met to discuss the books, our impressions, answer some discussion questions (which we recorded a few of here), and reflected on the movie that came out just a short while ago. While I loved meeting up with my beloved guild (whatsup guys), I think that for a book like the Hunger Games, a book club didn't exactly add much to my reading experience. I feel as though it was a book that could be understood on the surface, without much deeper reflection, and the same effect would have been left upon my finishing the book.

There were a few parts of the book that could be analyzed, and this gave me an insight to a way in which a book club could enhance the readers experience if the book was a bit deeper and gave more opportunity for analyzation and opinions. For example, when we talked about a modern example of something like the Hunger Games, we shared ideas that would have never crossed my mind previously. We talked about rushing a fraternity when guys are placed on pedestals, only to have to go through pledging after they are accepted. Or making livestock look appealing, only so that people may purchase them and slaughter them. There are a lot of things that I had never thought about before, But I'm not exactly sure they enhanced my reading experience, maybe my own personal thoughts outside the book.

I think a book club would have been helpful for some books I have read recently such as Sarah's Key, or The Art of Racing in the Rain (both great books I would highly recommend), where a book club would give the reader a chance to go more in depth with the point the author was trying to bring across. And in turn, possible help the readers take a look at their own lives and the decisions they are making.

I do think one thing that this book club did do, just as games do, was bring people closer together. I think that by talking about the book and our own experiences with it, how long we took to read it, what obstacles we had to dodge just to get every page read in a day because we were so obsessed, and more, bonded us in some way. We shared something in common and because of that we related to each other, and lead the conversation at some point far from the book and into our lives. As someone who loves making friends and hearing about other people's adventures, I loved every moment of it, and I think that is something that games in general can provide for people. An unspoken language, a bond that bring people together for a common goal. Teammates are one of the greatest bonds that I have made in my life, and I think through something like a constant book club, it can create a friendship circle that connects on another level.

Just as this class made our guild create new friendships through gaming and competing against other guilds, a book club presents that same opportunity. Over the summer my friend and I who are living in different cities are planning on starting our own kind of book club together where we can read books simultaneously and talk about them together. Although we will be in different places, this short insight to a book club reassured me that through the connection of reading the same book and having our own experiences that we share with each other, we will stay close and together.