When I first thought of book clubs, images of older women sipping on wine and reading historical fiction filled my head. I never planned to be a part of one until I was retired and bored out of my mind, especially when I saw the ones my favorite granny coworker runs. It’s filled with middle-aged to senior women who complain about their husbands, children, jobs, retirement – you name it, they’ll have something to say. So I never really expected to be coming to my first book club meeting at the beginning of this semester, but I’m so glad I did.
The spring involvement fair was inside because of the weather, so the clubs didn’t get as much visibility as they usually did. The club I was representing had a lot of helpers, so I wandered off to see the new clubs. There, in the middle of the room, I saw the sign for the book club, “Ram Reads” (which is a great name). As someone who’s a huge book nerd, I was immediately excited. Reading has become a lot more popular since the start of BookTok, but a lot of college-aged students don’t really have the time to read. It was surprising to see, but I happily signed up next to almost 50 other people.
When the first meeting came around, about 20 people showed up. I, of course, expected a lot of absences because busy college students hate to follow through with things. I ended up choosing the fantasy group, and our pick was Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Over the course of this semester, we met every two weeks to talk about the sections of the book we read. We just finished the book last week, and I rated it 4.5 stars.
Here is my Goodreads review: “I needed a good dystopian fantasy again and this was it. For a debut novel, Brown did an amazing job at keeping the plot and action rolling from start to finish. I fell in love with some of the characters and really felt Darrow’s inner turmoil with the role he must play.”
Red Rising is the first in a trilogy of books, where Darrow, the main character, is a Red. He’s the lowest of lows, a miner and slave to the higher colors like Grays and Golds. When he finds out that their suffering to build a better world is for nothing, he’s thrown into a life of espionage and subterfuge as a Gold. As per my review, it truly is an amazing sci-fi/fantasy novel that highlights a lot of present-day challenges and differences between us. My jaw literally dropped multiple times while reading. Because of the book club, I already bought the rest of the series and started on the sequel, Golden Son.
If you love reading and talking about books, consider finding a local book club. Even if it’s with a couple of friends, it’s such a rewarding experience. Hearing others’ interpretations of scenes and thinking of deeper meanings are things that book club has made me enjoy. Sites like Goodreads also have online forums where those with similar interests can talk about books they like. It makes me happy to see that reading is making a comeback in the younger generations. After all, it’s one of the best forms of escapism during those tough exam seasons.