Why You Should Start a Book Club With Your Family and Friends

The best way to learn about the world and the people closest to you in your life.

From Unsplash

My family was gathered around a long dining room table, each with their own copy of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone out. We had just finished reading 5 chapters, and were to share a few of our favorite moments. My grandfather would start us off with a summary of the book, while making as many intentional misnomers as possible. “This kid Peter Potter is a real class act. He should be glad he’s in the Griffenders and not the Slitherclaws!” he would say alongside literally a dozen or so pages of handwritten notes.

Being in a book club with my family is one of my greatest joys in life, but I didn’t always like book clubs. The first one I was in was also for Harry Potter, although it was a summer camp my mom put me in when I was ten. The kids in that book club were a bit… weird. One boy there would shout “PETRIFICUS TOTALUS” at the woman leading the book club whenever she didn’t give him something he wanted — which was all the time. I’ll never forget driving home after the first session with my brother crying to my mom, “You ruined our summer, you ruined it!!”

Now, every 2–3 weeks I get together with my mother and stepdad, my grandfather, three brothers…