I'm Starting a Book Club | Cup of Kee

Last year, I fell back in love with reading after a years-long reading slump. No longer was my attention span under the spell of TikTok and other short-form content, and no longer was I burnt out from analysing text for my college classes. Finally, I was free to get back into reading for fun, and that’s what I did!

By September last year, I was well in the swing of reading consistently and so when I saw a book club advertised by Brighton Waterstones, I was quick to share it with a friend and suggest that we join, which we did. It’s been a lovely eight or so months of attending this book club, and I still intend to go for a little while longer until I move house, but it’s also time to take on a project of my own…

I’m starting a book club.

Starting a book club of my own is in some ways my worst nightmare - a room full of people I don’t know, and I have to be the one everyone looks to; I have to talk in front of a group of strangers and put myself entirely out of my comfort zone; I have to add all this planning and prep work into an already busy schedule alongside my job and my house renovation? All of those things may be true. But in other ways, this is a dream come true. I get to build a community of people in my local town - somewhere I’ve never really had a community before. I get to talk about books with other book lovers, in the bookshop I’d always dreamed of working in. And I get to spend time on something that will bring myself and a lot of other people enjoyment, all while proving to myself that I can do these things even when I’m scared! I am terrified, but I am so excited to try this.

I’m going to be documenting this journey as I go to share the experience with other people, and maybe even encourage equally shy people to expand their comfort zones and try something new. 

So, if you’re a Worthing local and you’re interested in joining, you can find Chapters & Chai on Instagram. If you’re not local, we will have an online community too - or you can follow me at Cup of Kee if you’re just interested in the journey!

More on this soon.

Stay Cosy,
Kee