What I learned from the Level 87 Book Club
100 Story Building is a centre for young writers based in Melbourne’s inner-west, where children and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse and marginalised backgrounds are given the opportunity to foster their creative voice. The Readings Foundation is a proud supporter of the centre.
Readings staff member Bronte Coates recently visited 100 Story Building, and was lucky enough to sit in on their weekly book club for secondary school students.
Last week I met with the Level 87 Book Club which is hosted by 100 Story Building in Footscray. The club is comprised of some very excellent, smart and lovely teenagers (they didn’t pay me to say that, I swear!) who get together each week to consider things like: the merits of blurbs, reading outside your favourite genres, and never finishing books vs. always finishing books.
To kick off the meeting, everyone shared what they’ve been reading lately, or were planning to read next. One member had loved Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor and was now dying (as in clutching-her-hair-and-sinking-down-in-her-chair-with-anticipation kind of dying) to read the new book from Sarah J. Maas: A Court of Thorns and Roses. Another member was planning to re-read Raymond Feist’s Magicians series (which starts here), and this time, in it’s entirety. Everyone looked very solemn and impressed by this news. A third member had just finished Paper Towns by John Green, which led to a discussion about whether the new film adaptation will be any good. (Verdict: Undecided.)
So, Lesson #1: Teenagers do like to read books and, most importantly, they all like different books.
The discussion took a sudden turn when one member announced they’d had a Book Crisis. (Lesson #2: Book crises are better when shared then when tackled on your own.)
Photos by Simon Conlon, 100 Story Building
A staunch fan of Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park and Fangirl, she’d found the premise of the romance in the author’s debut book Attachments ‘creepy’. Having persevered despite her misgivings, the ending had made her so angry she’d all but thrown the book across the room. It’s worth noting that a fellow fan of Rowell’s was appalled to hear this development.
This turn in the discussion led us all to reflect on how several other famous love stories are creepy as well, including a personal favourite: Jane Eyre. (Lesson #3: When you start analysing it, ‘romance’ just is creepy.) Eventually, it was decided that some of the classic novels could be excused because you know – history. Other more contemporary love stories (looking at you The Time Traveler’s Wife) were less easy to make sense of but we all agreed that the romance only feels creepy if you personally don’t believe in it.
In less creepy news, for a great love story, one member recommended Americanah.
To finish the week’s discussion, everyone voted on which book they would read to discuss and eventually settled on Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean, a collection of sci-fi and fantasy stories from Indian and Australian writers and artists. We’ll be publishing the book club’s response to this read so keep an eye out.
