The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library has a long tradition of supporting Charlotte-area book clubs, but this fall the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation is taking this tradition to a whole new level. For the first time, the Foundation is sponsoring a competition called Book Club Madness. The competition officially starts on September 14, 2022, but anyone who belongs to an area book club can register now to participate in the madness. Here is the link with registration information: https://foundation.cmlibrary.org/book-club-madness/
I first heard about Book Club Madness two weeks ago when I received an email message from Maggie Bean, the Marketing and Communication Specialist with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation. She asked if would be willing to feature this new competition on my Storied Charlotte blog, and of course I said yes. I asked her for more information about Book Club Madness, and here is what she sent to me:
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation has created a new competition just for book clubs — Book Club Madness. Instead of the basketballs and sweaty gyms of March Madness, our games feature cozy homes with friends gathered to drink wine and talk about books along with expeditions to the Library to discover fun and wonder. But much like the March Madness we know and love, book club teammates can score two pointers, three pointers and free throws for their club, along with fun weekly prizes and bragging rights.
Plus, book clubs that score at least 100 points will be entered into a drawing for a FREE table for 10 at the 2022 Verse & Vino event on November 10 with an exclusive private audience with a featured author of their choice — a value of over $2,000 (although we think it’s priceless.)
It’s easy to join. Just register on the Foundation website and encourage your book club friends to do the same before Tuesday, September 13. On September 14, the games begin!
Each game will feature new challenges every week—for five weeks—like visit a branch, share your favorite book club book, check out a book or e-book, or post a comment on our social media. Once you complete a challenge (or numerous challenges) you’ll enter your points on the Challenges page. Your points will be added to your book club’s total. The point totals for all participating book clubs will be updated every Friday starting on September 23 on the Leaderboard.
It’s free to all and a great way to put your club to the test. Everybody thinks their book club is the best book club. Now it’s your chance to prove it.
Book Club Madness sounds like fun to me in part because it taps into one of the pleasures associated with participating in a book club. Book clubs come in all shapes and sizes, but they all involve reading and discussing common texts. For the participants in book clubs, there is a sense of community that comes from having shared reading experiences with the other club members. These common reading experiences provide opportunities to talk about one’s personal responses to a book, to raise questions in a nonjudgmental environment, and to share favorite moments and scenes from a story. Sometimes we think of reading as a solitary activity, but participating in book clubs can help transform reading into a community-building activity. I always say that my Storied Charlotte blog is all about celebrating Charlotte’s community of readers and writers, and as far as I’m concerned, Book Club Madness adds to the fun of belonging to this community.