For as long as books have existed, people have been getting together to discuss them. The places where these discussions take place have always varied, from libraries, bookstores and living rooms to more recently digital spaces. No matter where or how people gather to talk about books, the number of book club participants is increasing, even though we are in the digital age. According to MinnPost, it is estimated that more than 5 million Americans belong to a book club. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay The history of book clubs in America is intertwined with women wanting to create a space to express their own thoughts and opinions. The first recorded "literary circle" in the United States was founded in 1634 by Anna Hutchinson, a Puritan colonizer. Here women gathered to discuss sermons and the Bible. Although Hutchinson's group was ultimately banned by suspicious Puritan men, these gatherings served as a starting point for the tradition of analytical discussions among women about serious texts. Margaret Fuller founded the first bookstore-sponsored club in Boston in 1840, and by the turn of the century, women's literary societies were flourishing. While women were often excluded from intellectual gatherings and most colleges and universities until the mid-19th century, participation in these groups to talk about books forged an accessible way for women to participate in discussions of book talk. literary. The modern book club we most recognize today began in the 1980s, when discount bookstore chains made books more widely available. This diminished the need for the popular mail-order book clubs that began when Harry Scherman, an American publisher, established the Book of the Month Club in 1926. Rose Lanczynski, a retired bank manager, spoke of the growing popularity of the book. clubs in the 80s. “I always loved books. I can't remember a time when books weren't an essential part of my life. Book clubs seemed to appear in many public libraries around this time, as they created the ideal space to discuss literature with others. However, as a mother of young children at the time, Lanczynski felt excluded from this movement: "It seemed to me that when I finally found a book club in the area that I could participate in, I didn't have the time to attend a meeting. I worked full time and had young children. Although I had a strong desire to talk about books with others, attending a book club meeting seemed impossible. Perhaps the best-known book club began in September 1996, and it helped bring open discussion of books to more people than most. never before. On September 17, 1996, Oprah Winfrey announced that The Bottom of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard, a debut novelist at the time, would be her book club's first selection on live television. Deeming this one of her favorite moments on television, Winfrey sparked a wave of readings and discussions not only among her viewers but across the United States. It seemed that books that had Oprah's sticker on their covers were jumping onto the bestseller list, even those published more than fifty years ago, including Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, first published in 1877. The opera effect made it possible to sell, out of 70 book titles, a total of approximately55 million copies, according to Al Greco, professor of marketing at Fordham University. While not all choices have been without validated controversy, like American Dirt's most recent choice, the author still has Oprah to thank for her publicity. Although Oprah Winfrey's book club may be one of the most influential, the rise of digital book clubs has helped make them even more accessible and updated the traditional book club. While some might have thought that book clubs would see a decline with the increasing use of social media, this appears to be having the opposite impact. Book lovers are considering spreading the conversation about the books they read on social media. Digital book clubs have created a space for readers around the world to interact not only with each other, but also with authors while discussing books with a diverse community. Digital book clubs are flourishing on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Goodreads. Celebrities especially like to create book clubs on Instagram, where they use their large following to inspire their audience with new reading suggestions. In late 2015, Vogue magazine went so far as to call Instagram Oprah's new book club. Reese Witherspooon was one of the first celebrities to embrace Instagram as a medium for an online book club when she created Hello Sunshine in July 2017. Witherspoon chose Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens to be the book's next reading project. book club in September 2018, a first novel written by an author whose name was not known to many. When this book was first published, its circulation was 27,500 copies. After being selected to be part of Witherspoon's book club, he has since sold more than 1.4 million units of prints, according to NPD Bookscan. This particular title went from being a book known to few to one that people couldn't seem to get enough of as it topped the New York Times bestseller list for 52 weeks. Although all of the books selected by Witherspoon's book club became a sensation, most were respectable successes. Other celebrities, like Emma Roberts and Jenna Bush Hager, have followed suit by creating successful book clubs on Instagram. These posts easily reach their thousands of followers, encourage book discussions in comments sections, and create a sense of community online. In many ways, digital book clubs allude to the tradition of book clubs and how they began by giving voice to book clubs. who needed it. In many cases, these online book clubs choose to read books written by women and people of color. Among Hager's book clubs, which began in May 2019, only one of the 12 book selections was written by a male author and six of them were written by women of color. Celebrity book clubs aren't the only ones bringing awareness to diverse voices. However. More and more book clubs are emerging that aim to bring the stories of women and people of color to the forefront. Book clubs like Badass Women's Book Club and For Colored Girls Book Club, both hosted on Instagram, are curating a digital space to celebrate diversity in storytelling, something that hasn't always been emphasized in the past. This is perhaps one of the biggest benefits of digital book clubs. it’s that they paved the way for a more accessible discussion about books. Whereas previously, those who could not commit to personally attending the.