On October 13th, I attended the Open Book Club event hosted by the New York Public Library. This book club is open to anyone who wants to take part. Rather than focusing on a specific book each month, attendees are welcome to discuss any book they have read recently. This event took place over Google Meets. Three participants from across New York City joined in on the discussion. The event was hosted by Eliza, a librarian who works at one of NYPL’s Brooklyn branches.
At the start of the event, Eliza reviewed how to use Google Meets. I appreciate that she took the time to make sure everyone had the tools they needed to participate in the event. Many modern forms of participatory literature are difficult to access for those who aren’t technologically literate. Making the event more accessible increased the number of people who could take part. This made it possible for me to talk to readers from many different backgrounds who may not have otherwise been able to attend.
After discussing Google Meets, Eliza encouraged everyone to share their plans for Halloween. None of the participants knew each other, so this helped break the ice and start a natural conversation. Once I knew a bit about the other participants, I was eager to share more about the books I’ve read recently. Creating a friendly space made it easier for me to participate in the event.
Once everyone had gotten to know each other, we transitioned into a conversation about what we had read recently. I shared my experience with She/He/They/Me by Robyn Ryle, a choose-your-own-adventure book about what it would be like if you experienced gender differently than you do in real life. The first page, for example, asks if you have been born into a society where gender exists. If you select “yes,” it proceeds to ask you how many genders exist in this society. With each prompt, it describes what things about gender are true in the society you inhabit. These descriptions are nonfictional, describing the ideas about gender that exist in societies across the world.
Another participant discussed The Automat: The History, Recipes, and Allure of Horn & Hardart’s Masterpiece by Marianne Hardart and Lorraine Diehl. The Automat relays the history of its namesake, paying tribute to an important part of New York City’s history. The participant has lived in New York for decades and remembers a time when automats were still popular in the city. His discussion of this book opened up a conversation about the city’s history and how it’s changed in recent years. His book brought up a very different subject than mine. I enjoyed seeing how the varied perspectives of the participants made for a diverse conversation about different parts of the literary world.
These are just two examples of the books we discussed during the event. We also discussed Biased by Jennifer Eberheart, The Odyssey by Lara Williams, This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub, and The Chuckling Fingers by Mabel Celie. Each title sparked a new conversation, from political commentary in nonfiction to people’s thoughts on the thriller genre.
The Open Book Club encourages readers to discuss whatever literature they wish. In such an environment, readers are able to offer a literary perspective unique to their background and interests. This helps facilitate a diverse space where readers can learn more about literature that they would not otherwise be aware of.
If we had all come to discuss a limited range of literature, the conversation would have been much different; there may have been some pressure to focus our discussion on a particular theme. Some participants may not have attended because they didn’t have an interest in the topic at hand. By allowing the participants free range to shape the conversation, this event provided a platform that connected readers from diverse backgrounds with a wide variety of interests. In such a diverse space, I felt encouraged to reflect on ideas I’d never thought about before.
Modern-day participatory literature often forms in fandom spaces, where discussion focuses on a small number of books. Because fandoms generate involved discussions about a small selection of books, they often require an extensive knowledge of the work at hand to fully engage with the conversations at hand. The Open Book Club encourages readers to discuss whatever literature they wish. This invites a more diverse population of readers to take part than fandom spaces do. By creating a space that encourages people of many different backgrounds to contribute, the Open Book Club builds a platform for participatory literature that encourages diverse viewpoints seldom shared in the public, fandom-oriented participatory spaces that are common today.