5 reasons to start a zoom book club right now
Like many of us, over the course of the first lockdown, a more naive, optimistic, and (crucially) energised version of myself picked up a handful of new hobbies in an attempt to break up the monotony.
Knitting, rollerskating, and artfully timing my meals and bathroom breaks so as not to encounter another member of my household all featured prominently.
But looking back now - one year on and weary, with the end just barely in sight - it feels worthwhile to share one of the few sanity-saving changes to my routine that has actually weathered this unending shit-circus of a year :
The establishment of a monthly book club with a group of my friends.
In the interest of fairness, we follow alphabetical order to determine who picks the book of the month, and on the last Monday of that month (subject to unexpected schedule changes, because Life invariably happens) we hold a group video call to discuss it.
Glamorous? Decidedly not.
But it is a low pressure, low energy, low cost social commitment that has - for the most part - kept me out of the rabbit hole of total isolation.
And if I haven’t sold you just yet, here are 5 reasons to start your own socially-distanced book club today:
1/ zoom calls are boring and objectively suck
So I think we can all agree that the novelty of group video calls wore off within a couple of months.
If you can overcome the first hurdle in actually finding a time when all of your mates are free to talk (a surprisingly difficult feat), there’s still the awkward ‘turn-taking’, the dead-end answer to every “what’s new with you?”, and the tragic realisation that yes, it does still count as drinking alone.
The sad truth remains that video calls are no substitute for in-person interaction.
However, it looks like we’re stuck with them for at least a few more months, and if you’re starting to get sick of virtual quiz night - be it on account of a shameful lack of general knowledge for your age (no judgement here; hyperspecific niche interests for the win), or because the responsibility of organisation is consistently falling to you, the arthritic backbone of your social circle - I offer you Book Club as a fun alternative.
If you’re starting to feel the strain of repetition in your calls, having a predetermined talking point like your book of the month gives the conversation a little direction and focus that dispels some of the weirdness.
Depressingly inorganic? Perhaps…
…But then again, so is squinting at the tiny image of yourself on the screen while your bestie bemoans the total dearth of eligible Hinge suitors in her hometown.
Embrace the Chaos.
2/ check-in with your mates regularly
For me, the last year has felt like that purgatorial stretch of days between Christmas and New Year’s when the concept of time loses all meaning.
When the days looks largely the same, it’s all too easy to lose track of time, and sometimes our relationships suffer for it - especially if you’re the sort of group likely to spout off about how you can go without speaking for months and it’s like no time has passed at all -
I would argue that just because you can, doesn’t necessarily mean you should.
In practice, I’ve found that having an actual reason to call makes people (myself included) less likely to flake at the last minute than the offhand suggestion of a group catch-up. It induces a weird sort of FOMO.
In fact, there have been plenty of times when somebody in our book club has been too busy to read that month’s pick, but they still manage to hop on the call for a while, just to say hi.
And if you notice that someone isn’t showing up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to drop them a message to say “hey, we missed you tonight - you holding up ok?”, and that could make all the difference.
3/ switch up your reading habits
We are all creatures of habit - and the books we read are no exception.
Maybe you read Wolf Hall a few years ago, and you’ve been a historical fiction convert ever since. Or you’re a die-hard high fantasy fan who refuses to pick up a book which doesn’t feature dragons. And I’m fairly certain it’s a universal Humanities Student Experience™ to be overcome with crippling guilt the second you so much as think about picking up a book that isn’t on the course reading list.
In these Uncertain Times, the impulse to take comfort in familiarity is stronger than ever, and I get it: for most of us, reading time is downtime, and the prospect of squandering that time on something outside our usual tastes is distinctly unappealing.
That said, the risk we run when we restrict ourselves to any one genre, or period, or writer is to create a sort of echo chamber, where we cut ourselves off from the new ideas and perspectives that help us grow as readers and as individuals.
Get out of your comfort zone, and have a little faith in your friends and their taste.
After all, they picked you, didn’t they?
4/ Force your good taste on other people (politely)
On the other side of that coin, your book club provides the uniquely gratifying opportunity to force the people you love to sit down and read that one book you absolutely refuse to shut up about.
Okay, nobody likes a Recommendation Rita - you know her, that person who relentlessly insists that they know the perfect book/show/film that you’ll definitely love if you’d just give it a chance (not that it’s stopped me from strong-arming people into watching Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog on multiple occasions).
But if everyone is taking turns, it’s fair game! Wait for your month, sit back, and revel in the sweet, sweet satisfaction of being right, as your friends concede that they should have listened to you from the off.
Naturally.
5/ start meaningful discussions in your friendship group
So unless you were living under an actual rock, 2020 was a year for uncomfortable conversations.
When George Floyd’s murder last May incited Black Lives Matter protests all over the world, a broader conversation about the scope of systemic racism followed.
And while our feeds were flooded with both sincere and performative expressions of outrage and solidarity over the summer, it’s fair to say that that energy has dwindled in the months since.
Now, I’m definitely not about to declare myself the authority on how best to conduct your activism - and certainly not as it pertains to helping a community that I am not a member of. Nor do I want to suggest that a small group of likely politically like-minded people reading and discussing Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race is going to put a significant dent in a problem like institutional racism.
But I do think that we need to disabuse ourselves of the notion that anti-racism work can begin and end with introspection: with an individual sitting alone, reading a book, acknowledging their privilege, beginning to unpick the unconscious biases they’ve internalised, and calling it a day.
This is a necessary step, to be sure, but to suggest that it’s the last step would be pretty conceited - and if you feel called out by that, then it’s worth asking yourself whether your activism is rooted in a genuine desire to listen to and to help an oppressed group of people, or an effort to alleviate some sort of personal guilt.
Change happens when we move the conversation outside of ourselves, and if you feel like conversations about race aren’t happening in your friendship group, book club can be a really easy and *gags* nonthreatening way into those discussions.
Read black women.
Read LGBTQ people of colour.
Read stories about marginalised groups, written by members of those marginalised groups.
Just as a parting thought, I would add that if you’re looking to choose a book that deals with a lived experience that you personally cannot relate to, but that someone else in your book club can, it might be worth checking in with them ahead of making your choice, on the basis that there is a tendency in mixed conversations about race to force POC into the role of Teacher/Arbitrator, and not everyone will be comfortable with that position:
People of colour do not owe you education, and friendship is not exemption.