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    The Buzz: Book Clubs with a Twist

    Within months of each other, three locals started two book clubs. What’s so interesting about that? Let’s just say they’re not your mom’s book club.

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    After several meetings over coffee, Jeana Harrington and Tyler Durbin launched Gen Y Book Club in March.

    “Tyler and I had been chatting about working together for his blog, GenYJourney.com, since the beginning of this year,” said Harrington. “I spend entirely too much time reading, so I suggested a monthly column on books. Tyler has a knack for taking a good idea and making it into something great, so he got back to me with a new suggestion: an online community based on books that he and I could run together.”

    Gen Y Book Club uses a monthly Twitter chat −on the first Tuesday of every month− to discuss the latest selection and at the end of every discussion, Harrington and Durbin ask members to nominate books for the next chat.

    “Once the nominations are in, we poll the community to select the next book,” Harrington said. “To give you an idea of what we’re reading, a few titles so far have been Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk, Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky and Anything You Want by Derek Sivers. Next up is Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.”

    As a voracious reader, Megan Severs wanted to be a member of a traditional book club. However, her busy schedule often kept her from finishing a book in time for the next meeting.

    “So I’d join book clubs and then drop out,” said Severs. “It was a never-ending cycle. I thought, ‘What if I created a club that didn’t require you to actually read one particular book beforehand, but that still celebrated our love for books? That actually exposed you to other books besides just the required monthly reading. Oh, and that involve drinks.’ Because, let’s face it, that’s what you do at a book club!”

    The Bibliophiles & Beverages Society −launched in July− is Severs’ brainchild. Meetings are held every other month and all members bring a favorite book to swap.

    “For some people, it’s difficult to give away favorite reads, so we’ve made it possible to get your book returned after the meeting,” she said. “When people arrive, they take a bookmark for their book. The bookmark has a place for contact information so when another person takes that book, they’ll see who it should be returned to if, in fact, the owner wants it back.”

    What started as a Facebook email to about 50 friends has grown into a group of about 130 people, she said. B&BS also has 237 Twitter followers.

    “We have about 10 people who regularly participate, but I’d estimate we’ve had between 40 to 50 participants over the past few months,” Harrington said.

    The next Gen Y Book club Twitter chat will be held Oct. 4 from 8 to 9 p.m. EST. The next B&BS meeting will also be held in October, but the exact date, time, and location have yet to be determined.

    To learn more about Gen Y Book Club, visit GenYBookClub.com or its Facebook page at Facebook.com/GenYBookClub. Follow the club on Twitter at @GenYBookClub.

    To learn more about The Bibliophiles & Beverages Society, follow the club on Twitter at @BiblioBevSoc.

    Featured Books photo by Mr. T in DC via Flickr.

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    Melanie McIntyre
    Melanie McIntyrehttps://www.themetropreneur.com/columbus/
    Melanie McIntyre is a featured freelance writer for Columbus Underground who also writes about fashion, style and pop culture on her blog, Thoroughly Modern Melly. Melanie is an Ohio State University graduate, lives in the Short North, and enjoys reading and running.
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