Graphic by: Maddie Bataille | Photo Editor
The University of Rhode Island’s book club held its first meeting on Monday, Feb. 6 at 5:00 p.m., and saw an unexpected turnout of 20 people.
The book club was started by the English Undergraduate Student Advisory Board (EUSAB) and third-year English major Eve Potvin, who went to the board with the idea for the club. Since then, they have been in charge of the planning and the logistics, including how the club would start, where members would meet and how to get in contact with anybody who might be interested in joining.
“I think it’s a really good community opportunity for people to get together in a non-academic setting to discuss books,” Potvin said. “I think it’s really important that we read for enjoyment and not just for the academic portion.”
For its first meeting, the book club was held in the 193 Coffeehouse in Memorial Union, a location Potvin decided on due to the atmosphere of the location.
“It fits the aesthetic of a book club, it’s very cozy in there,” Potvin said. “It’s a very comfortable place and they’re [193 Coffeehouse] very welcoming of it.”
As people filtered in, grabbed a coffee and took a seat in the ever-expanding circle of members, the book club began with Potvin asking everyone to share their name, pronouns if they were comfortable with that, year, major and as an icebreaker question everyone had to say what vegetable they would be. Various years, majors and vegetables were tossed out and after that, the book club officially began.
With this being the first meeting, most of the discussion was centered around getting everybody on the same page. Members were told that, despite the email telling them that the location might be changing, it was concrete that the book club would stay in the coffeehouse. Potvin also said that they might push the start time to 5:30 p.m. in the future, due to possible conflicts, but as of now, meetings will continue to start at 5:00.
Then the big question was posed to the group: what book would be read first and how many pages should be read each week. There was not much discussion or debate, as everyone universally agreed that fifty pages a week, or the nearest chapter to fifty pages, would be a manageable goal. The first book was pitched by fourth-year marine biology major Olivia Mazzone, who suggested “All About Love”, by bell hooks. Mazzone thought this would be a good first book because of the time the group would be reading it during.
“It’s Black History month, it was written by a Black author and it’s near Valentine’s day,” Mazzone said.
Everyone agreed that the timing was impeccable and, at a brisk 272 pages, it would not be too laborious or take too long for the club to read.
“I really want to build connections and foster a love of reading,” Potvin said. “I want people to find that love of reading and to be able to share that.”
Potvin brought up creating a Discord for everyone in the group to help them talk to each other, discuss the books and vote on the next theme and book. They also mentioned that, if something didn’t work or not everyone had access to the same resources, things could change to better benefit as many people as possible.
After 20 minutes, URI’s and EUSAB’s book club ended its first of many meetings.
“I spend so much of my time close reading and really looking for super deep meanings to make an argument and sometimes it’s just exhausting,” Potvin said. “So sometimes I just want to sit back and still look for a deeper meaning in the book, just not as exhaustedly.”
The Book Club will continue to meet in the 193 Coffeehouse every Monday at 5:00 p.m. and anyone is welcome to join, regardless of major, year or experience with reading.