What’s the Book Club’s structure?
We read a few books each year and try to throw something new into the mix each time; passing fiction and non-fiction, poetry and prose, short stories and longer ones along the way. Our librarians select three candidates for a ‘season’ and you get to vote. We tend take our time, (usually) dedicating three sessions to one book. Participants aren’t obliged to attend all sessions, though: you can simply join for those sessions that suit you well.
During a session, we discuss the assigned reading material, which participants have read beforehand. The conversation is rather open when it comes to structure: together we see where the conversation takes us.
Lastly, structure wise, our group has gotten a knack of reflecting on our books one step further: in a creative session, through cutting, pasting, writing and drawing, we make something together that reflects what we’ve read. We’ve cut up books, made a zine and created collages; and who knows what’s next? Thanks to this creative impulse, most seasons consist of three regular sessions and one creative session.
Who is the Book Club for?
Anyone who roams the campus of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is welcome to join the Library Book Club. We are, after all, everybody’s book club. That means any kind of student, from bachelor’s to (pre)master’s degrees, and PhD students; as well as any kind of academic staff, whether you’re a guest lecturer or an assistant, associate or full professor, &c.; as well as all support staff, be you a policy maker, a host, a cook, a department head, and what have you not; and lastly, other wonderful beings we share our campus with such as entrepreneurs, patients at the hospital and high school students using our spaces to study.
Also, people with any degree of familiarity with books and literature are welcome to join: whether you’re one of our very own professors in literature or whether you’re opening a book for the first time in ages, you have a place in our space. If you want to read the book with us, and you feel comfortable enough to discuss it in English, please simply join.
Our current season
Currently, the Library Book Club is reading Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf. You can find all details on the dedicated event pages linked below. The creative session takes place on 27 October from 5:00 till 8:00 p.m. — details on that are discussed during regular sessions prior to it.
- Session 1, Tuesday 8 September, from 6:15 till 7:45 p.m.
- Session 2, Tuesday 22 September, from 6:15 till 7:45 p.m.
- Session 3, Tuesday 6 October, from 6:15 till 7:45 p.m.
If you’d like to engage with this group more often, the easiest way to get involved is through the group chat (WhatsApp).