Over the course of this spring semester, Riordan has introduced its first Book Club in recent history, which aims to cultivate and foster a culture of reading books for pleasure.
Club moderator and RSP Coordinator Jennifer Parker has wanted to start a book club since last year when she began teaching at Riordan.
The opportunity arose when “this year, [club president] Catherine Hansen ’25 approached me about it, which I was really excited about, because like I said, I’ve been hoping to do this for a long time. I feel like every school should have a book club, so when she asked if I’d be interested in facilitating and I said, ‘absolutely.’”
“I wanted to start the book club because I really liked to read, and I never really found myself having time to read because of schoolwork and reading in class, so I stopped reading,” said Hansen. “I think this would be a good way to bring back my passion for reading and it also helps other students who deal with the same things.”
According to English instructor Mary Dalton, the decline in readership can be also attributed to “the development of technology for entertainment purposes. We also rely on screens to receive information in general quickly, and more so in video format.”
However, amidst these modern distractions that induce a quick yet fleeting dose of dopamine, it is essential to recognize the enduring importance of reading in that “it makes you think; it makes you use your imagination a bit. I think the world we live in now, like ChatGPT and everything, a lot of things take the imagination out of everything,” said fellow English instructor Richard Sylvester ’01.
Dalton added, “It’s a good exercise to not only keep your mind sharp, but also expand your knowledge, and, of course, to entertain.”
By removing the assignment aspect that typically comes with reading books in school, Parker hopes that students will realize that “It’s [the book club] just an opportunity to hang out with your friends and talk about books that you have decided to read yourself,” said Parker.
Additionally, this club plans to go beyond reading and discussing books.
Hansen said, “I also want to go further and maybe do service inspired by books like volunteering at libraries or doing book drives for people who are in need or need books.”
In terms of selecting books to read, Parker said, “We will select a genre, and from that genre, we will have everybody give a title. And we will have them share a summary of it and say why they think it would be a good book for everyone to read. And we’ll do it by majority vote.”
