Hi my name is Stefanie and I run our Feminist Book Club in Glasgow. We’ve been meeting up to chat about books since 2019 and I’m so happy that we’re still going strong 5 years later.
We meet every 2 months and usually pick what we want to read between us or now and then I’ll make a suggestion and hope the majority of people are happy with it!
We read books that are written by women, books by feminists, books that are about an interesting character that we can discuss from a feminist perspective, books that help discuss experiences or injustices that we can talk about together, books that discuss our bodies, books that discuss our sexualities and books that make us happy.
Two books that we’ve read together that stand out to me have been All About Love by Bell Hooks, we talked about this at our first meeting after lockdown restrictions has been lifted in Glasgow on one of the hottest day of the year and it really felt that some of what bell hooks had been talking about love in friendships and community was present in front of us. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman was a memorable book and chat and one that I think I’ll remember for a long time, it’s still a book we bring up and try to dissect what what going on and how it made us feel, would really recommend it if you haven’t already read it.
We try to have a mix of fiction and non fiction throughout the year, I think it’s really important to read for learning, or unlearning, along with reading for pleasure and that feeling of winding down or as an escape too. We’ve read everything from introductory texts to more academic books and I think reading both and everything in between as a group helps bring in lots of discussion and perspectives that you wouldn’t have caught on your own.
It’s a really informal group to come and chat with, although there can be a few big groups on some nights! The book club is hopefully somewhere people can feel comfortable to talk and listen at various levels of knowledge of feminism, as long as people are keen to learn more from the books and each other. The club is set up that you don’t need to come every time we meet but we try to include everyone with an instagram page, website and newsletter to access how you want at the time.
I’ve worked in the libraries in the city for over 8 years but never closely with the books themselves so the book club was always a good way for me to have a connection to reading for learning and pleasure as a hobby. I try and make sure we’re reading books that are as accessible as possible; they’re in the library catalogue or are available in a cheap manner if they’ve been out for a while, it’s also another reason we meet every 2 months to avoid having to buy another pricey book that you might not always be able to afford.
We’ve seen an increase across the city and country of book groups and the amount of people wanted to attend one, I think I can see each time we meet, or the messages I get how much people want to feel connected to other people again, and connected to other that feel similarly and enjoy hanging out in consistent and relaxed way. It’s also a great way to meet people new to the city and to meet people that you link with in other ways too. There are also people I’ve seen on dating apps come along to book club, so it’s always a way to get to know potential partners who like similar things too!
3 more book recommendations from this Feminist Book Club in Glasgow would be:
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