Reading is one of the most important skills we have. Every day we go about our days reading; we read the news, we read social media, we read emails, we read recipes, and so much more. Business people spend much of their day reading. And many people gather to read and discuss book in a book club.
So if we read all day, why do we stress the importance of reading? Because in order to be a great writer, you need to read. In the past year we’ve created a book club to help bring writers, authors, and business people together to talk books. Probably the most consistent advice we see from writers is that reading books is a great way to improve your writing skills. Why? Because you can learn what writing styles fit your voice. You can learn what good writing is and maybe more importantly, you can discover what bad writing is.
What should you be reading?
First of all, read what you enjoy! There is no right or wrong answer to this. Grab that beach book or your favorite murder mystery. Go back and reread those YA novels you remember so fondly. The important thing is to read what will keep you engaged with the book. You’d be surprised at what you can learn from these books.
Now, if you are planning on writing a book or learning more business tactics, then you will likely need to read some more specialized books. If you plan on writing your memoir, I suggest reading a few memoirs. If you want to learn more marketing skills, there are great marketing books you should read. The great news is there are more than enough books within each genre or topic you can pick up to read.
To sum up the question, read what you want and read what will help you.
What is a book club?
Whether you are working on your first book, you have a whole series of books available, or you are just looking to learn a few things about life or business, you can join a book club and find inspiration. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic we were looking for a way we could still connect with other readers and writers. We’ve always wanted to venture into the book club arena and this provided us a great starting opportunity. What better way to stay connected with others than though books.
That’s a good question! Probably the most famous example of a book club is Oprah’s Book Club where she would suggest a book for her viewers to read and then discuss the book during one of her afternoon episodes. Doing a quick search about Oprah’s Book Club and you can see that her suggestions have sold roughly 55 million copies during the run. Other celebrities have taken an interest in sharing their love of reading too and created book clubs. For example, Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine has a well known book club.
Many other groups get together and create book clubs, whether it’s a group of likeminded students, a fun-loving group of retirees, or a group of industry professionals who want to stay in tune with their peers. A book club can be many things and take on many shapes and sizes but the one thing that doesn’t change is that a group of people will come together to read and discuss a common book.
Your Literary Prose Book Club
Join us on Monday evenings at 7:00 PM on Zoom as we discuss our book club selection. On August 2 we begin our discussion on On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser. We do meet every week but this isn’t school and we love to have people pop in and out whenever they can. We keep a schedule of the weekly discussion in our Facebook group: Your Literary Prose Book Club. We also take a group vote to pick our next book. Plus, we have a great group of people who share some good articles and discussions in the group. Join the group and say hello!
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