Book Clubs in The Digital Era

For as long as books have existed, there have been people gathering to discuss them. Where these discussions happen have always varied, from libraries, bookstores and living rooms to most recently, digital spaces. No matter where or how people are gathering to talk about books, the number of those participating in book clubs is on the rise despite being in a digital era. According to MinnPost, it is estimated that more than 5 million Americans belong to a book club.

The history of book clubs in America is intimately tied to women wanting to create a space to voice their own thoughts and opinions. The first “literature circle” recorded in the United States was founded in 1634 by Anna Hutchinson, a Puritan settler. Here, women gathered to discuss sermons and the Bible. While Hutchinson’s group was eventually banned by suspicious Puritan males, these gatherings served as a beginning to the tradition of women’s analytical discussion of serious texts.

Margaret Fuller founded the first book-store sponsored club in Boston in 1840 and by the turn of the century, women’s literary societies were thriving. While women were often excluded from intellectual gatherings and most colleges and universities until the middle of 19th century, participating in these groups to talk about books forged an accessible way for women to participate in discussions about literary discourse.

The modern book club that we most recognize today started during the 1980s, when discount chain bookstores made books more widely available. This diminished the need for the popular mail-order book clubs that began when Harry Scherman, an American publisher, created the Book-of-the-Month Club in 1926.

Rose Lanczynski, a retired bank manager, spoke of the rising popularity of book clubs during the 80’s. “I’ve always loved books. I can’t remember a time when books weren’t an essential part of my life. Book clubs seemed like they were popping up at a lot of public libraries at this time as they created the perfect space to discuss literature with others.” However, as a mother to young children during this time, Lanczynski felt as though she was left out of this movement as “It seemed like when I finally found a book club in the area that I could join, I couldn’t find time to attend a meeting. I was working full time and had young children. While I had a strong desire to talk about books with others, actually going to a book club meeting seemed impossible.”

Perhaps the most well-known book club began in September 1996, and this helped bring the open discussion of books to more people than ever before. On September 17th, 1996, Oprah Winfrey announced that The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard, a debut novelist at the time, would be her book club’s first selection on live television. Calling it one of her all-time favorite moments on television, Winfrey sparked a surge of reading and discussion not only among her viewers but throughout the United States.

It seemed as though the books that received Oprah’s sticker on the front of its cover jumped to the bestselling list, even those that had been published over fifty years ago, including Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina which was first published in 1877. The Opera Effect has resulted in the sales, across 70 book titles, to total around 55 million copies, according to Al Greco, a marketing professor at Fordham University. While not all of the picks have been without validated controversy, such as the most recent pick American Dirt, the author’s still have Oprah to thank for publicity.

While Oprah Winfrey’s book club may be one of the most influential, the rise of digital book clubs have helped make them even more accessible and has given the traditional book club an update. Whereas some might have thought book clubs would experience a decline with the increasing use of social media, this has seemed to have the opposite impact. Avid book lovers are embracing bringing the conversation about the books they are reading to social media. Digital book clubs have created a space for readers around the globe to interact with not only one another but also authors while discussing books with a diverse community.

Digital book clubs are flourishing on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads. Celebrities have taken a particular liking to creating book clubs on Instagram, where they use their large following to inspire their audience with new reading suggestions. In late 2015, Vogue magazine went as far as calling Instagram the new Oprah’s Book Club.

Reese Witherspooon was one of the first celebrities to embrace Instagram as a medium for an online book club when she created Hello Sunshine in July 2017. Witherspoon chose Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens to be the book club’s next reading venture in September 2018, a debut novel written by an author whose name was not known by many. When this book had first been published, its print run was 27,5000 copies. After being selected to become a part of Witherspoon’s book club, it has since sold over 1.4 million prints units, according to NPD Bookscan. This particular title went from being a book known by few to one that people couldn’t seem to get enough of as it found itself at the top of the New York Times bestseller list for 52 weeks.

While not every book that has been selected by Witherspoon’s book club has become a sensation, most have been respectable successes. Other celebrities, such as Emma Roberts and Jenna Bush Hager, have followed in pursuit by creating successful Instagram book clubs. These posts easily reach their many thousands of followers, encourage book discussions in the comment sections, and create a sense of online community.

In many ways, digital book clubs allude to the tradition of book clubs and how they uniquely started by giving voices to those who needed it. In many cases, these online book clubs are choosing to read books written by women and people of color. Of Hager’s book club, which started in May of 2019, only one of the 12 book selections was written by a male author and six of them were written by women of color.

Celebrity book clubs aren’t the only ones bringing awareness to different voices though. More book clubs are springing up that focus on bringing women’s and people of color’s stories to the forefront. Book clubs like Badass Women’s Book Club and For Colored Girls Book Club, both housed on Instagram, are curating a digital space to celebrate diverse storytelling, which hasn’t always been emphasized in the past.

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits about digital book clubs is that they have paved the way for the discussion of books to be more accessible. Whereas before, those who haven’t been able to commit to attending meetings in person or perhaps didn’t want to interact face-to-face, were left out. Rose Lanzynski stated that had digital book clubs existed when her children were still young and she couldn’t find the time to attend meetings, she wouldn’t have missed out on participating in something she would have genuinely enjoyed. She could have become a part of the conversation.

Rhett Thompson, a current medical school student, has been able to participate in online book clubs despite his work overload. He states “Realistically, it would be too hard to meet up in a physical location on top of reading for my own enjoyment with all of the schoolwork I have to do and my schedule. Digital book clubs have created a space for me to engage in online discussion.” While Thomspon acknowledges that he would enjoy being able to talk about these things in person, the book club he is a part of, where they just finished reading Beloved by Toni Morrison, has helped him think about things outside of medical school. “Reading serves as a form of escape for a lot of people, me included, so taking part in an online book club has allowed for that.”

The restorative power of reading isn’t likely to be forgotten anytime soon, despite being in a digital era where new technologies, apps, and social media platforms are being created every day. If anything, readers are expecting to be exposed to a new reading experience through utilizing the modes digital technologies bring with them. The image of book clubs existing in living rooms, bookstores and libraries has broadened in recent years to digital spaces where more voices are able to participate in diverse literary discussion. With the advent of social media, the classic book club has been given a digital update and one that will carry on the long standing tradition of reading.