My Reading Life – Kelly Goshorn
by Kelly Goshorn
In my last My Reading Life post, I confessed that my busy schedule precludes me from reading as many books as I’d like and that audiobooks allowed me to fit reading into my day.
Today, I have another confession. If it weren’t for my book club, I wouldn’t even get one book finished each month. I know the thought of only completing one book a month made some of you gasp (sorry, see comment on my busy schedule), and I may discover that Debb, Darlene, and Heather won’t invite me back.
BUT, I’m here now and will forge ahead before my heresy has this post removed as well.
A few years ago, I started a lady’s Christian/clean reads fiction book club through my church. Not only have I found my people, but I’ve also read several lovely books I probably wouldn’t have picked up myself.
Why? Because my absolute favorite genre to read is Historical Fiction/Romance. But through my book club, I’ve come to enjoy reading Romantic Suspense, Young Adult, and Contemporary genres all because my book club friends introduced me to them and their wonderful authors. The best part is I’m guaranteed to finish one book so I can chat with my fellow book clubbers. Sure, it’s okay to come even if you haven’t finished (or even read) the book, but who wants to hear spoilers?
Join us on My Reading Life, Key Goshorn shares all about her book club reads #BRRC #Reading #Readinglife Share on XOne of the fun things we do in our book club is to write down any quotes we love from the book in a journal. During our meeting, we share why a particular quote stood out to us, and over time, it’s a lot of fun to look back at the list of books and recall some of our favorite lines. We also take advantage of book club questions on the author’s website to help lead our conversation without anyone feeling the obligation to make sure we have thoughtful questions to discuss.
I think what everyone enjoys the most is talking with the authors who join us via Zoom. Authors love to chat with readers and most have a contact form on their website that makes inviting them simple and easy. We never seem to have a shortage of questions to ask either. What a privilege it is to not only discover what inspired a particular character or story, but to also hear the author’s journey to publication, their writing process, and any themes or hidden nuggets we may have missed chatting about in our member discussion beforehand. We also have the privilege of encouraging writers and praying for them before our time together ends.
Our book club has been such a huge blessing as I have forged new friendships through a common love of the written word. If you’re an introvert like many bookish types are, I guarantee you’ll find your people in a book club.
Are you in a book club? Let me know if you’re feeling inspired to get one started.
The Conversation
Kelly, what a great post and so nice to see you in another venue. I’m not in a book club per se, but I have bookish friends who point me in the direction of some really good reads. I tended to read only historical fiction/historical romance for years and years. I liked the “value added” of learning about a different time and place. Dipped my toe into contemporary and split-time and found there’s some really good stuff out there, by really good authors. A contemporary has to have something else going for it, for me, besides the romance. Not a fan of “he said, she said, hilarious misunderstanding that would only be solved if they’d talk.” That’s why we have TV, right?
Hi Kelly. I’m not in a book club, but I can see where it would help one finish a book at a certain time. With a lot of author friends, I tend to read their books. I do wish there were more hours in the day for reading. With Christmas on the way, I do like to enjoy some fun Christmas stories.