This is the story of Jia Li, the founder of The Saturday Book Club, as told to John.  

Gosh.  

There are more people in the room than I expected. It’s July 2023, a year since the Book Club started. Against all odds, this book club has been surviving.  

No, scratch that.  

You could say it’s thriving.  

But I can hardly believe it.  

Because when it first started, I didn’t expect this to last more than a few months. It was more a hopeful toss into the unknown, than a purposeful, intentional effort to make something as hopeful as the community I saw in front of me today.  

The Beginning  

Over COVID, I started reading. A lot. After all, there was a lot more time spent at home, and more time saved from the commutes to and from work.  

I also wanted to learn more about myself, and what really mattered.  

Over time, I shared quotes from books that impacted me, and their accompanying lessons on my book-stagram account. One day, it occurred to me.  

Why not start a book club?  

When I went online to search for book clubs, I found that these clubs were often thematic, or they would all be reading the same book.  

I thought I would do something different. Each person would read what they wanted and share from there. We would also only read non-fiction books.  

It was nothing fancy. Our first book club had all of four people. Yes, four.  

No numbers missing there.  

We met in a cafe, and over the two hours, shared what we had been reading and why it had impacted us. It was so touching to see people wake up on an early Saturday morning to share about books.  

Especially when you would think that young people no longer read books. After all, why read when there were more exciting content in snackable snippets over TikTok or Instagram? Why read when it was so much easier to engage with videos, than reading words on a page?  

But as I spent more time organising these book clubs, I’ve seen why people come. 

For People Looking for A Different Way to Unwind

When we are faced with so much input through our devices today, there can be something incredibly relaxing in a single-function medium like a book. There are no notifications to distract you. Nor are there pop-up advertisements to tell you to buy something else. And perhaps the most important thing – there’s no work messages or emails to send a sudden spike of anxiety down your spine.  

Just a good read.  

But more than that, people who came told me repeatedly how this was a community they really appreciated.  

Initially, I wondered why. After all, going for a book club didn’t seem to be the majority’s ideas of fun. It might seem like something dull and boring, compared to a night out at a club.  

For People Looking for a Community   

Then someone explained it to me one day.  

Making friends as an adult is really tough.  

Friends from school move on to different seasons of their lives, and you find yourself alone, staring down the barrel of a Saturday morning, and wondering what to do.  

If you ask someone out, you might risk being seen as one with an agenda. You either want to date, or you want to sell something.  

Unfortunately, this is Singapore. Where we are pragmatic and clear-eyed about humans and their nature.  

Now I understand.  

When you come for a book club, you aren’t just there because you want to lecture people about the book you’ve just read. You’re there because you want to learn something. That makes the community humble, open-minded, and curious, which is different from many other communities, where there are clear agendas and objectives. 

You get conversations that go beneath the surface, into what matters, and what could possibly hurt. I remember a book club session where I shared a book on insecurities, and how that transformed the way I used to see myself as an imposter, or as someone who was never good enough.  

It was reassuring to hear that others did feel the same, and that I wasn’t alone.  

Seeing the great response has validated my decision to do book clubs in-person, rather than virtually, like how other activities have sometimes been planned.  

There’s something magical about gathering in-person, even though technologies like Zoom have made it such that the virtual environment can mirror most of the communication you can have.  

But in person, perhaps it’s a commitment to the messy, spontaneous and unplanned conversation you can have, rather than just the connection you will have over Zoom.  

Sherry Turkle, in her book “Reclaiming Conversation” shares about this vital distinction between conversation and connection.  

Life is a conversation, and you need places to have it. The virtual provides us with more spaces for these conversations and these are enriching.  

But what makes the physical so precious is that it supports continuity in a different way; it doesn’t come and go, and it binds people to it. You can’t just log off or drop out. 

We all know the times when we have opened up another window whilst on a Zoom call, distracted even as someone else shares something vulnerable.  

In these book clubs, there is no way one can hide behind a screen. Each person brings all of themselves into the room, into the group, into the discussion.  

That’s what makes it so beautiful.  

For People Who Are Quiet

And perhaps the underlying reason that we don’t often talk about, is that it’s for the people who are quiet.  

Who would rather hide behind a book in a social setting, than hustling from person to person, trying to expand one’s network.  

Who would rather spend a Friday evening in a book, curled up in bed, over sitting in a bar with loud music.  

Who would be more comfortable within the quietness of a book, where there are no bells and whistles, which cannot talk back, which leaves nothing but thoughts, ideas, and questions in the hands of the reader.  

It can be hard for quiet people to find their place in Singapore, a place known for its hustle and go-gettiness,  its introspection.  

Being quiet can be unconventional, contrarian, and sometimes, painful.  

Bosses ask you to speak up. Acquaintances break off because you aren’t that ‘fun’ to be with.  

And slowly you question whether there is something wrong with you.  

Hopefully this book club shows that there are others that are quiet too and helps them find their place.  

A Comfortable Place for Everyone and Anyone

Aside from the venue sponsorship by the National Library Board, and a small amount to print bookmarks, we don’t charge for book clubs.  

Sometimes I do wonder why I put so much effort into this, even though it doesn’t return much to me financially. There were times when I wanted to give up, especially when I switched to a new company, with a new role, and had an intense battle to get up to speed, fast.  

But stories like Vicky remind me that this book club isn’t just a book club.  

At our anniversary party, she came after being invited by a friend. She had been struggling with a rare physical health issue. Yet coincidentally, at that party, she found other people who were also like her.  

She found camaraderie, and realised she wasn’t alone.  

And despite only coming once, she immediately volunteered to help at the next ones.  

Building community in Singapore is never easy.  

The Saturday Book Club is a book club, but it’s also a community. For people who read, for people who are quiet, and perhaps for the people who find themselves a little different.  

Who may have been used to being called a bookworm, or even a nerd, as they were growing up.  

Who may have found more understanding in the comfort of a book, over the people who pushed them to the fringe.  

Being different isn’t being difficult. Being quiet isn’t being quirky.  

Because it’s often in our most jarring difference, that we find our greatest strength.  

The Saturday Book Club runs on the Third Saturday of every month. It is happening this Saturday, the 21st of October too.  

You can find out more details here.