Explore how exchanging books and joining clubs can reshape your reading life and help you connect with others.
When people criticise consumerism, or the materialistic endeavours of buying and owning, they rarely include books. Unlike other things sitting under bright lights lining the shelves, books are much more than just objects to own. The books we read and love connect to something deep within us. Sharing these books is a sign of intimacy, an extension of trust and vulnerability, and a moment of rare and intense connection.
The Rise of Modern Book Clubs
In the past four years, Eventbrite, a ticketing website, saw a 350% increase in book club events. And it isn’t just the older generation; many young adults are hosting their own intimate book clubs. This resurgence of in-person book clubs seems a desperate plea for connection and intimacy. Some people claim that, with phones, we are more connected than ever.
This non-stop virtual ‘connection’ has left many feeling isolated, restricted to their virtual worlds and communities. People want real connection. They yearn for the sharing of ideas and for showing others the soft and delicate parts of their souls. This emphasis upon interconnectedness and community can be perfectly understood through the South African philosophy of Ubuntu.
Understanding Ubuntu: “A Person Is a Person Through Other People”
The Nguni group, part of the wider Bantu language family, uses the term Ubuntu to refer to “humanity.” The Ubuntu philosophy reflects the value of communalism and interconnectedness central to many African communities. For the Nguni, the individual is indisputably connected to their relationships and wider community.
The so-called golden rule of Ubuntu is, “A person is a person through other people.” We are not born with selfhood; instead, we acquire it through social interaction and community.
How Reading Shapes Identity and Empathy
Reading books is both a show of our identity and a development of it. Many of us can cite a certain book that changed the way we perceived the world, or became a defining moment in our lives, sending us on an alternate trajectory. We seek out art that reflects and challenges us.
However, admittedly, sometimes we get caught in loops of familiarity if we remain isolated. Moreover, with a society so time-poor, we are frightened to ‘waste’ our time on books that we won’t connect with. Here lies the beauty of sharing books or attending book clubs.
The Intimacy of Sharing Books
When we are close to someone, we are more likely to appreciate their advice. The peculiar specialty about reading something that a loved one has suggested lies in the knowledge that they are giving you part of themselves. The books we loved as children, the ones that we read under the covers after our mothers told us to sleep, are lodged somewhere deep within our chests. To share our favourite books is like baring ourselves open.
Even if we don’t mean it to, our reading habits whisper something about ourselves. Why did you connect to this so deeply? What did it change in you? Even at a book club, when we discuss a novel with a group of strangers, we are allowing our ideas, and therefore a part of ourselves, to be shared. Connection and communities are systems of give and take, not in a transactional sense, but in that they need to be fed in order to nourish.
A Literary Example: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a historical romance novel published by writers Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows in 2008. The story centres around a book club in Guernsey during the Second World War and is an undeniable celebration of the written word. This novel is primarily a celebration of people, of perseverance, and how much a community can impact who you are.
Like the Ubuntu philosophy, novels like these drive home the importance of sharing and community. They are a testament that people become people through other people. Reading has been proven to develop our empathy and compassion, and the practice of sharing literature can spark discussion and deepen our bonds both to the world and its people.
Why Sharing Stories Still Matters
Our world can often feel cold and disconnected, despite our countless connected devices. Yet, there exists hope. There is proof that people yearn for more, that we are, in fact, desperate to connect. The desire for book clubs will only continue. It defies this idea that all we do must be for monetary gain; it is a shift from consuming material goods to consuming knowledge.
Despite how easy it is to fall into pessimism, we cannot help but have hope. The way we read may have shifted over time, but it has remained a vital part of our culture. If this says anything, it says that we still care for others, about their stories and their challenges.
Our development as humans is an ongoing journey, one that requires both individual intellectual stimulation and a thriving community, and sharing books harmoniously allows for both.
Book clubs may not sound like they are the solution to all the world’s problems, but then again, haven’t community and knowledge been the foundation for any movement of resilience, or stood as the catalyst for any step toward change?
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Vincent Phan
Vincent is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of 1000 Libraries Magazine. He is a Paris-born ex-corporate turned bookseller and philosopher, on a global mission to spread the joy of physical books in our age of digital technology.
