by Chloë Moore ’24
Looking for a new club? A way to read casually instead of just for class? Join “A Novel Idea,” Macalaester’s casual fiction reading group! Led by Jess Brown ’22 (she/her), “A Novel Idea” focuses on making reading fun again. Jess, a Political Science and Environmental Studies double major and Data Science minor, says she “was inspired to join A Novel Idea by the advertisement I saw for it, which opened with ‘do you remember when you used to read for fun?‘ I realized that I hadn’t really read a book for fun my entire first semester of college; I was too preoccupied with readings for classes, and had quite forgotten that reading for fun was an option and a good way to relax besides Netflix. In short, ‘A Novel Idea’ inspired me to read for fun again, and I wanted to be able to do the same for others.”
The club meets every other Tuesday from 7-8pm on the fourth floor of Old Main to discuss their reads, which have recently included Six of Crows, Scythe, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and Little Fires Everywhere. The club provides information about where to get copies of the books, including free resources like the DeWitt Wallace Library, the inter-library loan system, and the Saint Paul library. According to Jess, who has been co-president of the club (alongside Zully Maya ’22, who is currently studying abroad) since her sophomore year, “We typically read YA novels because they tend to be fun, easy reads… a nice contrast to what class readings typically consist of. We read a book a month, which presents a nice pace compared to the rush of the school year.” When we spoke, Jess was working on creating the book list for the upcoming year; members “vote for the book of the month among a variety of choices… I like to include books from a variety of genres… so that different interests are represented.” Now that people have voted, the first book this year will be The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.
Jess tells The Words that meetings are “chill” and also include time to “get to know each other and talk about our days.” Snacks, often from Breadsmith, are a staple. The first meeting of every month focuses on the first half of the book, and the second meeting is reserved for a discussion of the book’s ending. Jess adds, “Sometimes, if we’re very passionate about the book (either in like or dislike) we write book reviews that we submit to the Mac Weekly.” And she encourages people to join for this year: “To join, students can either email us to get on the email list ([email protected]) or go to Presence (macalester.presence.io) and ask to join. We’d love to have you!”