Books and Beyond, a book club at the University of Minnesota, builds a community of book lovers during their meetings.
The club holds two monthly meetings. One meeting focuses on a book discussion and the other on book-themed activities, such as games and making crafts. In the past, the club has made puppets, played a ping pong game with poetry, and watched a romantic comedy or murder mystery movie.
Co-President Siobhan Crowley helped found the club in fall 2022. She said she and Co-President Lauren Vander Pas both wanted to join a book club, but there were not any available then.
“We just decided to start one,” Crowley said. “At the end of our freshmen year, we started doing all the administrative stuff that you have to do to start a club, finding other officers and things. We’ve been with the club ever since.”
Crowley said the club has become a community. Being in a leadership role allowed her to make sure the club fostered positive relationships between members.
According to Crowley, it has been amazing to watch members enjoy club activities and learn new things about books and themselves.
“It’s just wonderful to also feel like I’ve had a role in kind of making that happen, of knowing that these two people became friends, and they wouldn’t have done that if they hadn’t met each other at this event,” Crowley said.
Books and Beyond attracts lifelong and new readers alike, Crowley said. The club reads a wide variety of books voted on by the club’s members, ranging from romance books like “Meet Me in the Margins” to memoirs like “Crying in H-Mart.”
Vice President Kelli Kozlov said being a club officer means she can do more for the community. By working with people and helping in community engagement, she feels she can make the club a valuable space.
“A book community is super valuable, at least to me,” Kozlov said. “So I was like, ‘If I can contribute to that and make that happen, I think that would be super cool.’”
Along with monthly meetings, the club often does community service events. On top of having a community of readers through the club, Crowley said they hope to give back to the community.
The main two nonprofits they did events for were Reach Out and Read, which provides books to children’s hospitals in Minnesota, and Books for Africa, which provides books for children in Africa, Crowley said.
“We went and had a couple events with them, where we would sort books and pack for them,” Crowley said. “The other one that we’ve worked with is called Books for Africa, which has a kind of similar premise, where they send books over, and we also help them sort through the books.”
An avid reader since high school, Kozlov said she joined the club to talk about books with her friends.
“It’s kind of that feeling of nostalgia or just that warm feeling that comes with people that understand you or are interested in the same things,” Kozlov said. “So I think that space is really important and really exciting, especially because I already like books. I think that’s really the best part about it for me.”
