By Isabella Marchant, Currier Times Staff///

“What do you want to read?” is a question Isabella and Keegan can ask a student. Depending on a student’s answer, Isabella Marchant and Keegan Greene can ask a student to choose a book from a selection. For example, a student can select “Solito” by Javier Zamora.

The options can change depending on a month, and whether there are themes they can tap into. For example, a student can select “Solito” by Javier Zamora from a selection for National Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month in September.

Marchant and Greene, the creators of the upcoming new “Book Club”, also want a student to think about a meaning behind a book, and for the student to learn about a subject of the book.

“I want to be able to host a safe space where people can freely talk about books that they love,” said Greene. “And have the ability to bounce ideas or thoughts through a group.”

Professor Kelly Wheeler, Advisor of Book Club, and Assistant Professor in the Writing Program, said there was a need for a club like this at Curry.

“Well, we do not have an English major on campus, but we do have a Writing Minor (which is mostly creative writing with some memoir thrown in),” Wheeler said. “I think there are many students who enjoy reading and enjoy talking about books not just on a superficial level of whether it is good or not but about how it is crafted and the language that is used in that craft as well as the complex issues writing exposes.”

The Book Club organizers said they expect partnerships to be an asset to the club’s growth.

Partnering with the Latino Student Union (LSU) to create an event related to “Solito” by Javier Zamora, or National Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month in September, are examples.

It is important to Isabella Marchant and Keegan Greene to collaborate with others to create an event related to a subject of a book, or a themed month for a student who is not in Book Club, or who is in Book Club to celebrate a gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.

“I think Book Club is important because it can help push people to read more books for joy rather than just for education as well as offer a space where they can more freely talk about it with people who have similar likes,” said Greene.

Professor Kelly Wheeler added, “I think identifying a variety of genres to look at how writer’s write would be a good focus of our Book Club but not to the detriment of sharing joy and opinions about the complex topics that books are written about and on. Books are gateways to discussion about how people view and engage with the world. They provide us with ‘windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors’ which allow us to see things from other perspectives and perhaps gain empathy.”

Book Club is expected to debut in the first couple of weeks of the Spring Semester in January, 2024.