A word of gratitude for my book club
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I've been in a committed book club since 2015, and fewer things have brought me more consistent joy and enrichment as an adult.
Why it matters: I view book clubs as an antidote to two of society's most alarming and disfiguring trends: social atomization and algorithmic content.
- We now live in a world in which we spend historically unprecedented amounts of time by ourselves, often in front of our screens. Those screens have been fine-tuned to keep us glued to them for as long as possible.
Breaking out of these digital habits — which I view increasingly as shackles — requires a sustained and deliberate effort.
How it works: My book club meets about every six weeks, a Goldilocks cadence that allows the more omnivorous readers to consume other books in between selections while not overburdening those with more demanding schedules and family commitments.
- There are 12 members, and we pick sequentially in an order that hasn't changed since 2021.
The intrigue: Because we each make a selection less than once a year, the decision can be daunting. No one wants to pick a dud!
- Without rules or guidelines, we nevertheless cycle organically between fiction and nonfiction, contemporary and classic works.
- We try to choose books no one has read before (including the picker). We'll often bring backup ideas in case more than a couple of us have already read a top choice.
📚 The latest: We've read in recent months the 2026 Anisfield-Wolf nonfiction winner (my pick), a YA historical novel and a groundbreaking cyberpunk mind-bender.
- Next up: "Clandestine in Chile," by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Flashback: I've picked some of the club's most acclaimed nonfiction titles, including George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" and David Grann's "Killers of the Flower Moon" — back before Grann was a household name.
- I am also responsible (and have yet to live down) what is regarded as the single most barbaric pick in club history: "The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata" by Gina Apostol.
The best part? Everyone reads everything. Since our mid-twenties, we've all found a deep sense of pleasure and reward in sincerely engaging with books we might not have encountered otherwise.
- We still savor underlined passages and revel in our disagreements over dinner and drinks at each other's homes.
The bottom line: Every six weeks, I reunite with a dozen dear friends to embark on a collective voyage of discovery and growth.
- I never want it to end!
📬 Are you in a book club? Email us at [email protected] to share your story.