After a video about an Australian TikToker wanting to share his journey reading 52 books in a year came across my “For You” page on TikTok, I made the decision to join the book club he created and follow along. I knew I didn’t have the time to keep up with all the readings, but I thought it was a fun idea and wanted to be a part of the group. What I didn’t know at the time was how big it’d get, and how much I’d gain from the experience.
There are more than 4,000 members in the Facebook group, from all across the world. Each month, people submit book recommendations, and then the top picks are put to a poll that everyone votes on. The top four books are chosen for the month and every Sunday the group meets on a Zoom call to talk about the book.
That’s the driving force behind the book club, but it’s turned into more than that over the past few months. It’s a place where people come to share their love of books and reading, and meet people like them from around the world. People talk about what they’ve been reading, ask for recommendations, chat with others about their lives, and share memes about their book-buying addictions (we’ve all been there).
Seeing everyone introducing themselves and interacting has really shown me just how connected our world is now, and I think it’s pretty amazing. That people can come across a video on their feed and find this community of people who aren’t connected by anything other than a mutual love of books is mind-boggling to me. In these online spaces, a truck driver from northern Texas and a university student from Norway can interact and share their experiences in a way that they never would have before. All of these diverse perspectives mesh to create this funky, chaotic and beautiful mosaic of people. And I know this can be seen in any online community, but the true power online spaces have to connect people didn’t fully strike me until I joined this group – and I wanted to share my experience.
If you’re interested, you can join the Facebook group here. There’s no pressure to read all the books, and lots of people join just to meet fellow book lovers from across the world. Really, I’d advocate for joining any kind of supportive online community, if only to open your eyes to the epic world that’s out there!