Bookmarked: What Are You Reading
Like reading? Join Olivia’s Book Club!
Welcome to a new season of Bookmarked! Over the summer, we were excited to see a new book club pop up that’s open for the community to participate in. Started by “Good Morning Arizona” anchor Olivia Fierro in partnership with Changing Hands Bookstore, Olivia’s Book Club is a virtual club that anyone can join. Here’s the scoop!
Why Start A Book Club?
I’ve always had a passion for reading, since I was a little girl. To escape, to learn, to emote and now to connect. Off and on I’ve been a part of or hosted book clubs, and I adore turning a solitary practice into a group experience. When you’re in the room with other people who’ve read the same book, you immediately have a connection, a pretty special shared experience. Even when — as so often is the case — you have disagreeing opinions on the book, talking and sharing it is fun. Bringing about a book club for Arizona’s Family that would include colleagues, friends and our viewers just makes sense. At “Good Morning Arizona,” we try to think of ways we can think about our friends at home and make their lives better. Encouraging reading and helping connect people who enjoy it is one way to do that. We share recommendations, favorite books, encouragement to make the time, along with one book we read every other month. That gives avid readers time to enjoy their own selections and slower readers time to finish. The chats are small “meetups,” usually at Changing Hands in Phoenix, and shared live on Facebook so members at home can participate.
How Do We Pick The Books?
I have made the selections, trying to provide a diverse experience with books from different genres. And I’ve fielded excellent recommendations from the book buyer for Changing Hands. We started with Liane Moriarty’s “Nine Perfect Strangers” because I’ve read all of her books and many people are enthusiastic about her writing after HBO’s fabulous version of “Big Little Lies.” Her writing style — short chapters, multiple narrators — usually hooks you in quickly. Next, we read “Enemies in Love,” by Alexis Clark. It is a work of nonfiction from a journalist about an interracial marriage between an African-American nurse and Nazi solder in WWII. They met at a POW camp in Arizona(!), which is a bit of history I had never heard about and thought our native residents would enjoy. We followed that with Elena Ferrante’s “My Brilliant Friend,” because it is such a highly acclaimed work of fiction, translated from Italian. The focus is on a very complex relationship with two best friends who some today would call “frenemies,” growing up in Naples.
What’s Your Current Pick?
“Stay Up With Hugo Best” By Erin Sommers: Many of our members were ready for a quicker, light summer read and this seems a great choice. We’ll discuss Aug. 29, and then announce our next choice (likely a thriller, since we haven’t devoured one yet).
