Reading is usually considered a lone activity, but some bibliophiles love nothing more than contemplating the delight of written words with other book lovers. Covid-19 and numerous lockdowns have forced those of us who attend book clubs to rethink our strategy and move the story online. After all, while keeping safe indoors, reading is one of only a handful of hobbies that remains unaltered as we navigate this new world. Quite honestly, it may never have felt so enticing and almost essential to seek comfort in the printed world of words. 

Instead of meeting up in the library conference room after school with snacks, we set up a group on Zoom, which we were all familiar with. It took a little while to get organised, with unsurprising video glitches and microphone issues but we persevered. It felt strange to virtually be in each other’s rooms and more time than necessary was spent commenting on the décor and other segues. Ultimately we decided to work a twist into our meetings by putting up a virtual background related to the book we were reading, either emotionally, geographically or otherwise. 

Our book club was focused on reading contemporary works of fiction.

We all loved reading Philippa Gregory’s Tudor volumes, including The Other Boleyn Girl and The Red Queen. However, debate is the ink of book clubs, it’s generally the contentious offerings that heighten emotions, the imperfect and amoral reads that elicit deeper feelings and divide opinion. So Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin incited an impassioned discussion (is there ever good enough reason to hate your child?). 

If we had not been online, the schedule would be a quick catch up and school-talk, but online meetings aren’t very conducive to idle conversation so we jumped right in. The person who selected the book outlined the author’s life and foundations of the piece of work. Although it was a novelty to be dressed in my pyjamas at my book club, without cues from body language and as only one person spoke with others muted, the conversation commanded more active management and felt a little unnatural. 

Under discussion was A.J. Cronin’s The Citadel. There was a unanimous thumbs up for a humbling reminder of how fortunate we are to have the NHS and an insight into life before health and safety let alone CT scanners and Ultrasound machines. However, despite the book inspiring the creation of the NHS, it sometimes hovered a little too close to soap opera.  

The ultimate verdict for our first online book club meeting was a resounding ‘it’ll do’ and things went more smoothly than we had anticipated. We all joined feeling a little weary after having had a full day of school online and it is more draining having an online meeting. However, we all agreed we would continue and reconvene in everyone’s house at the next meeting!