UIC Library Staff

The UIC General Book Club is a book club started in 2016 for library staff, faculty, and student workers. It meets once a month and the format varies between discussing what attendants have read in the previous month, or with a chosen book. It traditionally switches locations between the Daley Staff Lounge and the LHS Chicago Staff Lounge, but will be held virtually for the remainder of 2021 and through to 2022.

The group has a Goodreads page where books discussed during the meetings are noted (in the bookshelf area) so that if people are interested in something being discussed, they can easily find it to borrow:

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/188127-uic-library-general-book-club

If there are questions about the book club, or if you wish to have meetings put on the Outlook Calendar, please contact Amber Hoppenworth at ahoppe1@uic.edu.

NEWS AND NOTES

Start thinking of books for a single book discussion in February!

Please have suggestions sent in by October 11 so we can vote on and pick a book for February 2023's meeting. This will give us time to locate and read the book over the end of the year holidays.

Reading challenge sheets are due (emailed to ahoppe1@uic.edu) by November 9!

Two sheets will randomly be draw in the November meeting. Two winners will receive a $30 Bookshop.org gift certificate!

During the 2022 Book Club Survey, interest was shown in creating a club-specific set of prompts for a 2022 reading challenge! This is a voluntary challenge for 2022. The prompts are listed below, but feel free to grab the downloadable prompt sheet.

UIC General Book Club Challenge Prompts:

1. Read a book released in 2022.
2. Read a book released prior to 2022.
3. Read a book from a favorite genre.
4. Read a book from a genre you normally do not read.
5. Read a book from a new-to-you author.
6. Read a book from an author your have read before, or re-read a book.
7. Read a book with pictures or illustrations.
8. Read a very short (under 200 pages) or very long (over 550 pages) book.
9. Read a book that you have been meaning to read for a long time. (Over three years?)
10. Read a book related to some kind of media property. Ex: A book made into a movie, a tv-tie in, a book about your favorite podcast, etc.

These are very loose prompts and a single book can tick more than one category! This is absolutely done for fun, but a way to give you some structure for your reading, or to challenge you to pick up something you might otherwise have not.

During the November meeting, we will check in on the challenges and see if everyone had fun! And maybe talk about our favorites.

Note: During the November meeting, we will also draw two completed and submitted reading challenge sheets. Those selected will receive a Bookshop.org gift card and an hardy congrats. (All will receive the congrats, but only two will receive the gift cards.)