For the Love of Books – Local Book Clubs
Since 2020, Book Clubs have been on the rise, even here in our little pocket of the world.
Amongst these is “Rock & Read” (Geezers be Readers), established by photographer, Gap local, and avid reader Colin Bushell. This is a men’s only book club, as Colin thought it might be nice to get a group of men together to talk about things ‘other than sports’. The group meets every 2 months at The Blind Tiger at 7pm and discuss one book per meeting. Last month they discussed “Last Drinks” by Andrew McGahan, and for June they’ve chosen “The Year of Living Dangerously” by Christopher J Koch.
The Gap She Shed also have a Book Club that meets at The Blind Tiger. Running since 2021, the club meets on the third Thursday of every month at 6.30pm, to discuss a pre-selected book. For May the group read “I, Mona Lisa” by Natasha Solomons – a historical fiction, and for June the book will be “The Bandit Queens” by Parini Shroff – a sharp, witty modern fiction. Lucy, one of the activity leaders summed up the joy of book club with this, “What I like most about our book club meetings is when people relate to aspects of the books we are reading and they feel safe to open their hearts to the rest of the group by sharing personal stories and/or experiences. That is truly beautiful!”
“Portals to Transcendence Book Club” meet every 2 months at Miss Kay’s at Mitchelton, on the first weekend of the month. This group focus on Classics and Cult Fiction. Organiser Andrea says “Anyone who enjoys classic literature or would like to extend and challenge their reading by adding in some, is welcome”. In their second year now, the group choose books from a brainstormed list and themed seasonally.
They practice “Deep Reading”, where they “slow down and find passages we enjoy and underline them or note them in journals.” The group also does a lot of reading out loud during Bookclub “harking back to how novels were originally read out loud as a communal affair in families”. This group is definitely for those who “love savouring the language”. The group has chosen Siddartha by Herman Hesse, for their Winter read, described as a “deeply contemplative novella”.
Contacts:
Rock & Read: Colin Bushell 0409 107 079
The Gap She Shed: www.facebook.com/TheGapSheShedInc
Portals to Transcendence: Andrea Baird 0491 284 240
Happy Reading!
Author: Sarah Krause @sarahsbookchat