Book club: Buddy readers
Victor Mwendwa of Buddy readers book club. Photo | Pool
What you need to know:
Reading gives me joy, satisfaction, and a sense of fulfillment in life. It also, helps improve my vocabulary as I learn different aspects of life.
I have had a passion for reading books since I joined boarding school in grade four. The primary school I went to had strict disciplinarians who emphasised the importance of reading to shape us into becoming great and dependable people in society.
I was so much into books that my classmates nicknamed me “bookworm.” I carried a book almost everywhere I went. I try to read at least one book every month.
You might wonder why I read. You see, reading gives me joy, satisfaction, and a sense of fulfillment in life. Further, it helps improve my vocabulary as I learn different aspects of life. What I have also discovered is that books feed into my hunger for new ideas, insight, and inspiration.
l love reading both fiction and non-fiction books such as biographies and autobiographies. Besides these, you will find me reading current affairs materials like newspapers, magazines, and journals to keep abreast of current world developments.
My choice of book is influenced by recommendations l get from fellow book lovers, and issues that l would like to investigate or understand. To ensure that I don't slack back, which is quite common with readers, I joined a book club called buddy readers in January last year. Belonging to a book club means that there are expectations that you should meet —read and discuss with others.
At buddy readers, we request members to suggest books to read for the month, and then we vote. Towards the end of the particular month, we hold virtual or physical sessions to share insights from our reading.
I am currently reading Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. It is an unforgettable story of young Hugh "Shuggie" Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in run-down public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher's policies have put husbands and sons out of work, and the city's notorious drugs epidemic is waiting in the wings.
It is a heartbreaking story of addiction, sexuality, and love. Shuggie Bain is an epic portrayal of a working-class family that is rarely seen in fiction.
