Strimters, quarrels and broken friendships: when reading clubs go wrong | Australian lifestyle

“FRiendships over six years old were broken overnight, “said Rosa * about the sudden and dramatic dissolution of her reading club in Victoria, Australia, a few months ago. What started as a chance to share notes on the finest points in dramatic literature had become a real drama.

The reading club was an important element in the Rosa calendar for several years and, like many others, was organized in rotation in the houses of different members each month. Although its main objective was to discuss the books, Rosa estimated that it was also socialization, and the members were encouraged to dress in outfits relating to the book of the month, with prices for better dressed.

The cracks began to appear after an investigation into the 12 members of the club, all the women at the beginning of the thirties, were shared to collect opinions on the operation. When the anonymous comments were presented at the next meeting, the moderator reported that most of the participants thought it was more “commitment” to finish the book, a comment that did not go well with certain members.

Some people felt distinguished by the investigation. “It has become interpreted as” you have to finish the book or perhaps not come, “explains Rosa. Although the group was ostensibly used to share different points of view, this gap could not be filled: before the end of the night, some members were released and left the group group the next day. The reading club has not met since.

Reading clubs are a basic food in the intimate newspapers of lovers of literature worldwide and have increased in popularity in Australia and the United Kingdom. Sometimes made up of friends, but just as often frequented by foreigners linked only by the locality, reading clubs occupy a particular position somewhere between occasional socialization and a semi-structured adhesion club.

Unsurprisingly, gathering people, often with alcohol, then encouraging them to express their opinions can sometimes lead to an explosion. Erin Johnson, 42, has run his reading club based in London for almost 10 years. With an open invitation policy and 3,400 online members, the club generally attracts 10 to 20 people per meeting in person.

Inevitably, certain discussions on reading clubs “live from the subject” in broader social problems, says Johnson. She sees it as an even for the course. But when the characters do not get well, discussions can sometimes be heated and disagreements have evolved online after certain meetings. It’s a step too far for Johnson. “Please do not broadcast your dirty laundry on the public group so that thousands of people can see – it’s just supposed to be a nice fun reading club!”

Although the world is not short of complicated and difficult questions and strongly detained beliefs, personal and procedural problems can be just as fractive as politics. A Bookbrowse 2019 survey of nearly 4,000 members of the reading club revealed that the reproach most often reported was too dominant personalities, followed by irregular attendance and members not reading the book.

Karen Stillman, 47, from North Carolina, has first -hand experience. “For more than a year, four women have come to our reading club without having touched the book, saying that they had not had the chance to read it. These women are all retired! How did they not have time? ”

One evening, Stillman has lacked patience. “They entered without saying hello to the half of the group, so I went down to say: you have to read the book.” His point was made: they left immediately and did not return.

These experiences highlight a tension at the heart of many samples of reading clubs: a difference in expectations. “I think that almost everyone joins a reading club because they want to make new friends and meet new people, but people remain for various reasons,” explains Becky, who lives on the west coast of the United States.

Becky’s reading club started as a monthly meeting of foreigners, but collapsed in a regularly wider meeting. She had started the club to meet new people and shared organizational tasks with an old friend of the school.

The club administrator had started to wreak havoc and Becky, who is now in their thirties, said she was gaining weight than her co-coordinator. “I felt that the reading club was a large part of my social life and very important for me, but my friend did not respect it in the same way,” explains Becky.

The problem also took the top space for her friend: “She wrote a long e-mail on Christmas Day that breaks me with me!” Her friend has not come to the reading club since then.

Reading clubs are a very simple form of community gathering. The entry requirements rarely extend beyond reading the book. Most are shy affairs that take place without problem, but since her own breakdown in reading club, Rosa wonders if the tightening of this cowardly arrangement could have prevented the disaster.

“The fallout make me ask me if this kind of semi-structured social event needs a kind of” house rules “,” she says. “It’s a bit of meta, but humans are complicated.”

* Some names have been modified