Read and Talk with Me
In the Book Clubs of DC, Readers Find Conversation and Connection
Last week, CityLab writer Tanvi Misra mused about the way that “reading groups are radical spaces,” writing about how coming together in a feminist reading group helps her process the world.
Sometimes a reading group is literally radical: I’ve been part of a leftist sci-fi book club for years, reading everything from Iain Banks and China Mieville to Samuel Delany and Octavia Butler and talking about what we read from a political perspective. The Jacobin Reading Groups are another example.
But there’s also something radical, in this day and age, about just taking the time, first to read a book and then to discuss it. Time spent reading could be put towards any of the various kinds of microwork our economy now recognizes. Such nonproductive labor is not rewarded with raises; you’re lucky enough to be asked in a job interview about the last book you read. It’s probably not an accident that the book clubs submitted by readers overwhelmingly take place in decommodified spaces —homes and libraries were the most common locations. (Bookstores and cafes come next.)
Moreover, reading is a personal act, and so to discuss it is to open up the possibility of solidarity. Books — especially novels — traffic in dramatic details that, if they were personal, we wouldn’t dare to discuss. And yet once we have a work of fiction in hand, it becomes easier to open up about our positions and experiences. Perhaps being invited into someone’s home has something to do with that.
“It pushes me to read things I wouldn’t normally read and open up to new ways of thinking,” said a member of the DB Literary Society. Some book clubs aim for this by organizing around minority authors, and many of the book clubs are thematically organized around gender or political affinity that might accelerate connections of this type. (About half of the book clubs sent to us fall into this latter camp.)
It’s clear that people cherish these conversations. In reading through the feedback sent to our survey, it became clear that the books are secondary to the people. We asked what people liked about their reading group:
- “Brilliant feminists and one member who isn’t afraid to tweet at authors like Rebecca Traister and have her SKYPE IN with us!” (Oh Hello Book Club)
- “It brings together strong, smart womxn” (Big Book Energy)
- “It’s fun to hear others’ reactions to certain stories.” (FYA DC)
Looking for a book club? These are open to new members:
- Chilly P’s (meets at East City Bookshop; chillyps@googlegroups.com)
- DC National Organization for Women: Intersectional Feminism
- Obama’s Reading List (email philippa@pinklineproject.com)
- Books, Bites and Brews
- Busboys and Poets Book Club
- Social Justice Book Club (meets at East City Bookshop)
- Forever Young Adult DC
- Politics & Prose Book Clubs (there are tons, everything from True Crime and Romance to Spanish-language and poetry)
- Queer Book Club (email johnna.percell@dc.gov)
- Congressional Cemetery Book Club (yes, all the books are about death or dying)
- Books & Brews LGBT Book Club
- One person passed on instructions for starting your own Women of Color book club.
Looking for your next read? These were recommended:
Kindred, Octavia Butler
Dawn, Octavia Butler
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, Haruki Murakami
A Manual for Cleaning Women, Lucia Berlin
The Summer We Got Free, Mia McKenzie
Exit West, Mohsin Hamed
Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Educated, Tara Westover
Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, Gabrielle Hamilton
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, Isabel Wilkerson
Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi (several)
Open City, Teju Cole
Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine
Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein
A Princess in Theory, Alyssa Cole
Evicted: Poverty & Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond
The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory, Caitlin Dougherty
Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline
Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
All the Single Ladies, Rebecca Traister (who also skyped in for our meeting!)
The Power, Naomi Alderman
Eleanor Olyphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman
All the Light You Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
The Nix, Nathan Hill
Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin
The Tsar of Love and Techno, Anthony Marra
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
Amateur, Thomas Page McBee
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
El Tiempo Entre Costuras (The Time in Between), Maria Duenas
Mistakes I Made at Work: 25 Influential Women Reflect on What They Got Out of Getting It Wrong, Jessica Bacal
Check out the full list of responses below:
