#10 | The Book Club of your Dreams 🔓
A few months ago, one of my longest-time friends talked to me about a new book club idea that was brewing. It would be restricted and women-only. I am an avid reader myself but I was never part of a book club. I never understood what it really was about. But I always found it challenging having someone tell me what to read next as my reading picks ebb and flow between romance, thrillers, memoirs… I am always all over the place.
Jess
But this book club would be different. It would not entail reading the same book at the same time. I was immediately intrigued and wanted to jump right in.
We first convened on a cloudy Sunday morning and the rules of engagement were set. We could each pick the book of our liking every month, in any language we’d prefer (among the 4 of us, I think more than 5 languages are fluently spoken and read!), from any style and from any author we’d like. We would just have to share our choices and read together, each of us with their book in hand.
As I shared previously, I have a deep seeded craving for sisterhood and belonging. Being with other people just sharing what makes us happy and fulfilled (or just entertained) in regards to our readings feels liberating. And deeper than just sharing about tv shows and movies. At least for me.
As one of the members told me recently, our book club felt low maintenance from the start. I didn’t even know I needed low maintenance in my life. Now I can’t live without it.
Before diving into our reading choices, let me share how gorgeous my friends are, inside and out. They are incredible professionals, daughters, wives, girlfriends, cousins, mothers, sisters. Humans.
We don’t wear our heaviest make up and our fanciest clothes when we are together – we meet on Sundays usually so it is relaxed as it should be! – but even so, the array of flowing linen shirts, beautiful braids and discrete jewellery immediately awakens my Libra aesthetics-obsessed senses.
It wasn’t a requirement, but the 4 of us are tall. I had never met a tallest group of women in my life. Most of my friends are much shorter than me and now… I just blend in? That is refreshing.
When we convene every (other) month – the 4 of us travel extensively so finding time to be together in the same country is challenging –, we go to one of the members’ house alternatively. But boy oh boy, isn’t the bar high in that regards: my fellow bookclub member’s houses are stunning and incredibly decorated with the smartest trinkets, gorgeous-scented candles, intricate panels and bright pieces of art.
Although I love to hear them speak, I feel so compelled to take pictures of our surroundings as my very aesthetic eye just wants to wander in such beauty.
Speaking of beauty, last but not least, the goal isn’t to have a meal together but that is being naturally incorporated at every meeting. Even a avocado sauce pasta salad or a chicken-stuffed plantain becomes the most gorgeous meal that was ever before me. I feel so overwhelmed I always want to cry. Being a lover of beauty is harsh when surrounded by people who don’t care about it and then you meet people who naturally are. How grateful, how grateful, how grateful I am.
Furthermore, it is the most curious to find that in togetherness we all have our distinctive styles. One reads digital, the other prefers the traditional page-turning feel under her fingers. One loves audiobooks, the other needs deep silence and inspiration to read. One doesn’t find dog-earing their paper books and the other feels the book is being murdered one dogeared page at a time. One loves thrillers, the other wants to deep and impactful memoirs. One loves book markers, the other tells Goodreads where she is at in her book. But all of them deeply love books and how connected the reading-love feels.
Speaking of books... This is what we are here to do, right? Read! And we have been reading plenty!
On our first round in December 2024, we picked:
📖🇧🇷 Não fossem as sÃlabas do sábado – Mariana Salomão Carrara
📖🇺🇸 The Bookish Life of Nina Hill – Abbi Waxman
📖🇯🇲🇨🇦 Sweetness in the Skin – Ishi Robinson
On our second round in January 2025, we read:
📖🇳🇬 Nearly all the Men in Lagos are Mad – Damilare Kuku
📖🇬🇧 Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo
📖🇺🇸 Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus
📖🇺🇸 Family Lore - Elizabeth Acevedo
And what we read in February 2025:
📖🇳🇬 The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives – Lola Shoneyin
📖🇨🇦 We Rip the World Apart – Charlene Carr
📖🇬🇧 How to Solve your own Murder – Kristen Perrin
We will convene again in a few days and I cannot wait to see what books we will be reading in March. I am honestly leaning towards grabbing Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's much awaited Dream Count (she hadn't published a novel in over 10 years! this is major!) or Jennette McCurdy's I'm Glad My Mom Died several friends have raved me about. I will let you know!
Jess
Are you also a part of a book club? And what do you think about our peculiar yet flexible rules of engagement? Share more in the comments!
This is it for today! You have more content below, written in the past few weeks. In the meantime, follow us on Instagram. Or Tiktok. Or Youtube. Share with a friend. Whatever tickles your fancy. No matter what, do not forget to live your best life.
See you in April!
Je t'embrasse fort,
Jess
Comments ()