George RR Martin once said, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” By participating in this book club, I really came to appreciate this quote even more. This Book Club, named “Book Talks” was a book club in which I participated, which involved discussions and debates about books of various genres, creating a whole new world with magical creatures, exploring new genres of books, and trying to come up with a unique plotline for an epic novel. I loved this experience, especially because it made me realize that reading only gets more fun when its joy is shared with many others. 

Learning Outcome 1 – Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

During the book club, I realized that my shyness always came in the way of effective communication. I always remain reserved in front of many people, and this always kept me from voicing my opinions in a debate or sharing my views on a particular book genre. At times, my fear of speaking in front of so many people also hindered communication, and that is when I identified that public speaking is one of my areas of development, which will help me a lot in the future, because at communication and public speaking are basic and essential skills that are required at all workplaces and even when interacting with others and having a casual conversation. However, being creative with a plotline, and also trying new ideas for world-building with magical elements was one of my strengths, because I was capable of creating new ideas into making unique plotlines for a  book.

Learning Outcome 3 – Demonstrate how to Initiate and plan a CAS Experience

In the book club, I took an initiative to plan an activity to boost creativity and imagination for all. I developed a list of book tropes and themes that would be very difficult to pair with each other, put them in a wheel of names generator, and this way, the tropes were distributed amongst all groups. Using the tropes, all groups had to come up with a plotline for a fiction novel. FOr this activity, the planning was difficult for me because I had to ensure that the activity was enjoyable for everyone, and that it also facilitated imagination, while not making it too easy for the book enthusiasts.

Learning Outcome 5 – Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

At several instances, we were required to be split into groups for fun activities such as world-building and creating a plotline for a novel, or even trying to bring the Game of Thrones series to life. This required collaboration, because when creativity and imagination is involved, everyone has different insights and ideas, which might not be the best for someone else. This required compromising at times, to make sure that everyone had equal participation in the activity, but it also made me realize that in order to work together, mutual understanding is always required.

All in all, the book club was a spectacular experience for me, because not only did I take a step further in the world of books, but I also perceived it from the perspective of other book enthusiasts, while boosting my creativity and imagination in the process. I also developed the learner profile attribute “Open-Minded”, because everyone has varying perspectives on a particular book, genre, or an author, which are all subjective. Hence, it is important to be open and receptive towards others’ opinions, while also voicing yours.