The word's worth!

Club culture

It is said that books are the most loyal and trusted friends one can ever have. For book lovers, there is no greater pleasure than curling up with a good book and drifting into unknown worlds. But happiness doubles when shared and so discussing books with friends and strangers is another favourite pastime of readers.

That is the aim of 'Bookworms of Bangalore'. Started by Priya Dabak, the club caters to the ones who love the written word.

Says Priya, "I moved to Bengaluru a year ago and work at Deens Academy, a CBSE school, as an English teacher. So naturally, I spend most of my day with children. As fun as that may be, I have genuinely missed interacting with like-minded people, preferably older than twelve! That was my main motivation to start a club. I am a thorough bookworm and appreciate discussions on books with fellow readers."

 Says Ashmita Dutta, "I joined the club a few weeks back. I was looking for a book club for a very long time. It has been a very interesting experience so far with the discussions that we have had and the kind of people that I have met."

 Ashmita was introduced to the world of short stories after joining this club, for a discussion on short stories from The New Yorker. "I don't read short stories that often, I am more of a novel person. But the other members introduced me to writers I haven't even heard about."

 Exposure to variety is one of the key attractions of joining this club, whether in books or people. Says Sriram Jaju, software engineer, "I got to meet different people from different professions, ranging from software professionals to scientists, which I can't in my office."

"Initially we used to meet every week but now we give people more time to read the books. The most recent session was on Neil Gaiman and the discussion was about his different works, ranging from graphic novels, children's novels, short stories and so on," he adds.

Talking about the selection of themes, Priya says, "We are a book club, not a Literature club. It's a place for people who like to read but may not always find time to, or those who do but are in search of a place to share their thoughts on the reading. A regular meetup features either a genre or a particular author and each member picks one book of their choice that falls into the selected category."

Says Mac Lobo, a finance professional, "We usually meet at 3.30 pm on a weekend. The first half an hour is spent on calling people and giving directions. The people give a 3-4 line summary of their books, without giving spoilers, and then we discuss about the book and what the author is trying to convey. There are different opinions, different genres, different countries but the focus is on creating a discussion around books and the important subjects they espouse."

(The club can be contacted on 9900106491)