Come Read With Us! The Rise of Europeia's Most Official "Unofficial" Club!
Written by Lloenflys
Reading is a passion of mine, and has been since I was quite young. As an only child, I didn’t always have someone easily at hand to play with, and my parents were regularly off at work or at different volunteering or recreational events. As a result, my most constant companions were the Boxcar Children, Bilbo Baggins, and the Hardy Boys amongst many others. As I aged, I was thrilled to discover the sheer volume of amazing books that were out there for me to spend time with. I still get a thrill when I crack open a new book (whether literally or virtually!).
While I have always enjoyed discussing my love of specific books with friends and like-minded family members, I perhaps surprisingly have spent most of my life never having been a member of an actual book club! A few years ago in Euro I made an abortive attempt to get one started. I believe our plan was to read Arthur C. Clarke’s masterpiece Rendezvous with Rama, but unfortunately not a lot of people participated and the effort sort of fizzled out.
This would not be the last attempt, however! Last summer I got the idea that I wanted to try again, and proposed reading a short story called Finna. Once again this attracted some interest, and the book sparked some discussion, but things also once again sort of fizzled out with a whimper. Still, this time there was enough attention and interest to get me thinking that the right book could genuinely get the club working, and so I decided to go for something fantasy-like, something that parodied D&D, and something that was both fun and funny. The book Orconomics fit the bill, and so once more into the breach we stepped. This time the club managed to sustain interest from at least a few people through the end of the book, leading to our first satisfactory completion of a book as a club.
Book clubs are fun because they give you an opportunity to think about what you read and to expand on your thoughts with other people who have also just been exposed to the book. It is always fun to see what things other people pick out from the reading, what turns of phrase they enjoy, what parts of the story they connect with. The sense of community that comes from reading something and thinking about it at the same time is comforting and hugely fulfilling. Even when the Rama and Finna versions of the book club were struggling, I was enjoying the fact that they were there providing a forum. Furthermore, for those who need a little nudge to encourage them to read, a book club can serve to provide that little bit of peer pressure that might be necessary to keep you going. I am a firm believe that something fun like a book club should never become a chore, but we all have those days where a little extra motivation is needed to keep us on a task that we really do want to get done. I always aim to encourage participation while making clear that everything is voluntary and should remain enjoyable.
Our joint success with Orconomics convinced me that Europeia could sustain a club that fostered the positive attributes above, that positively contributed to our shared Euro community, and that created more opportunities to learn and have fun. And so, it was time to formalize the book club into the Official Unofficial Europeian Book Club. I get a kick out of the name because it nods to our history just sort of unofficially coming together when we felt like it. It also carries some of the silliness that I want to convey in how we operate. We’re a whimsical group! At the same time, we’re recognized officially! We have a forum! We have members! Life is good!
My hope for the book club is that we can maintain a solid base of participants on any given book (we do not require members to read every book – or even any book! – but always love it when people do commit to reading along with one of the books). I very much remain committed to putting new books up to a vote after giving people a chance to make nominations – that aspect of the club makes it very democratic and I think adds some fun. I also intend to keep nominating exciting books that don't all fit into the same pattern or genre to make sure that there are always a variety of choices available when new books are selected. I would be thrilled if we could get 3-5 people (not necessarily always the same people!) reading each of the books that we select - that would really mark success in my mind for the club.
So, if any of this sounds interesting to you - If you want a community of readers to share your thoughts with, or maybe even to start getting into reading for fun, Euro’s book club is a great place to do it! Join here today and start your adventure!
