How to Start a Book Club!

By Patrick Coy-Bjork ’24

One of my biggest joys this semester has been “The Tuesday Night Club:” a new book club formed by Nina Rogers (‘25), Aldo Palacio (‘24), and myself. Last fall, the three of us were in Professor Andrea Kaston Tange’s course: ENGL 294-03: “Great Detectives and Plots of Detection.” The class was all about reading and analyzing all sorts of mystery literature throughout history. We began with what was considered the first detective story and ended reading a mystery published in the last few years. The class was absolutely delightful, as we couldn’t help ourselves from becoming completely engrossed in the stories. We would all present different theories and guesses and even debated what really qualified as a “mystery.” The class was a blast, and we wanted to continue the fun, and so we formed “The Tuesday Night Club!” Named after an Agatha Christie short story, the Tuesday Night Club has continued to meet every two weeks discussing mystery novels. Most recently, we finished Anne Cleeves’ The Darkest Evening: a story in which a Northumberland police detective solves the case of a woman who appears to have been murdered just outside of a grand house party during a blizzard.

The majority of our class from the previous semester has continued attending our book club, and it has been such a joy to keep the fun of that class going. If you’re interested in starting a book club yourself, the English Department is here to support you! Through the Critchett Fund, the English Department will pay for book clubs’ reading materials for a maximum of twelve members. There are also several classrooms in Old Main and Carnegie that you could book for book club meetings on EMS. To start setting up  your groups, just email [email protected] or [email protected] to ask for the form to submit a proposal for the Critchett Fund. I wish any aspiring book club leaders the best of luck and happy reading!