So how is that goal going of reading two books a year?
A lot of us wish we could find the time to finish our goal set in 2018 of finishing an actual book. We love referral reads to discover something new. If we could, we would join a book club to fall behind on and can admit to it.
Sometimes we even fall behind on our morning podcast and email newsletters with our morning coffee. I prefer tea in the mornings and a coffee just before lunch. It takes the edge off of lunchtime hunger, keeps you awake and better yet it keeps away the afternoon haze.
But boarding those reading habits did get any closer in 2019. They are even set to improve in 2020. It started with reading outside of my comfort zone after I discovered book clubs that I can follow in a non-committal way.
Now I have lots of books on my 2020 list. Thanks to the exciting places I discovered them, well, Instagram. The upside is, I’m not pressured to read to fulfil by the goal to learn more and read more outside of my comfort zone but not knowing what.
That is why you need an Instagram book club, who’s lists of books you can get into on your own time. The difference is you will be encouraged to read more since the obstacle of finding your next read is condensed.
To get you started, here are my three Instagram book clubs I have joined in a non-committal way.
Belletrist book club, @BELLETRIST
If you know Emma Roberts from Scream Queens or American Horror Story or only as Julia Robert’s niece. She is nose in a book kind of person who started her own Instagram book club. You don’t have to be a fan of hers to enjoy the aesthetic of Belletrist and the board genre of books they have for monthly and seasonal reads.
The Durag Club book club, @duragbookclub
Founded by three friends from South London. They wanted to create a space to encourage young women to read more and understand they will be busy who might not have time even to finish a book. Which is why they sometimes just read sections as a group and read the rest on your own time. If you can make it, they have quarterly meetups to discuss the book they will be reading that month. It’s okay if you can’t make it either. They want to know you are exposed to a new read.
The Oprah Winfrey book club, @oprahsbookclub
Well, Oprah needs no introductions. Now retired from her daytime TV show; The Ophrah Winfrey Show. There used to be a book club segment on her show. She has encouraged and turned readers on to inspiring books on the span of her 15 years on TV. Oprah is still respected as the Queen of daytime TV, and so is her book club that can now be found on Instagram. Reaching a whole new generation, including the one who grew up watching her. Except now we’re old enough to read.
Reading should be fun, not a punishment, and one of these book clubs is a great start to be part of the world of readers. You can become the reader you have always wanted to be.
My next great read for the beginning of 2020 is going to be Girl, Woman, other by Bernardine Evaristo. After which, I will not just know who she is; the first black woman to win the Man Booker Prize last year 2019.
I’m still taking the controversial 2019 win of writer Bernardine Evaristo having to share the prize with writer Marget Atwood as a win in the right direction.
Even if Marget Atwood has won it before…yeah. Thus, it is not the future we are aiming for.