Another busy week, taking mom and I to some appointments, and running some errands. We head an internet and cable outage at my house for almost all of Saturday, and Sunday I’m hoping that we can just rest, because it’s the only day of the week that we won’t have at least one appointment or engagement to go to. My aunt is going to be coming to visit for a couple of days in the upcoming week, and I know both my mother and I are looking forward to it. 

*EDITED: I just realized that today is actually Father’s Day, and my hopes for a restful and relaxing Sunday have dissolved that quickly 😅 – today is going to be a marathon of heading to the cemetery to visit my own father, and then probably winding up doing something involving one or both of my brothers. To be fair, I did try to plan something in advance and reached out towards the end of May, but nothing ever came of it, so I didn’t give it too much mind. And I definitely got a message from my father during the week. He always loved one specific type of candy bar, and I found a huge bin of them marked $1 each. Seems normal for the supermarket, right? Well this wasn’t in the candy aisle or even near the checkouts. Instead, it was placed directly in the dairy section, which was the only aisle I went down in the store. I’m not overly superstitious, but when my dad gives me a message from the other side, which he does fairly often, I know to listen, and got the candy for him. At least he’ll appreciate the thought, and the ants will probably appreciate the sugar. Happy Father’s Day to any dads reading this!

You know how every family has ‘the cool’ older relative? In our family, it was my mom’s sister. She was a bit younger than my mom, and was so much fun. Her three daughters were all around my age, and she gave all of us cute nicknames, even my much older sister. I think the age difference between my aunt and my sister was probably about the same as that between my brothers and I. She’s also a big reader, and she tends to read a lot of mystery/thrillers and makes some great suggestions.

In honor of my aunt’s visit and her tendency to read super-popular authors, I want to start a discussion that my goblin sister (IYKYK) had suggested a while back: how the endorsement of celebrity book clubs influence our reading choices and the expectations we have for these books. 

’Big Book Club” is a new term to me, but it can refer to shows, blogs, or podcasts headlined by major influencers, like Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, Jenna Bush Hager, and other celebrities, wind up talking about these books to their large audiences, leading to an excess of hype surrounding these books. In some cases, we find out long after these books are endorsed by celebrities as a ‘book club pick,’ that an author has a problematic history. Look no further than Delia Owens and her runaway success with Where The Crawdads Sing, yet it isn’t until later that it came to light that she and her ex-husband were wanted for questioning in regards to a murder in Zambia. Owens has stated that she was not involved.

Then there is the idea that a celebrity endorsement is going to influence our decision to not only buy the book, but approach it prepared to love it. I mean, I start every book prepared to love it, but if a friend who knows my taste tells me I’m going to love it, I’m more likely to stick it out even if I am not enjoying it. In recent years, we see a lot of parasocial relationships, which is when we feel connected to people we only see through media, I’ve noticed this with content creators on social media, especially those we interact with and even have conversations with. But we don’t actually know them or very much about them, and they don’t really know us either. So when a talk show host or a movie star or a politician’s daughter that has been highly influential among women for decades, often as far back as we can remember, tells women she recommends a book, lots of women are going to buy it. Or at least put in a hold at the library that is estimated to be my turn in 329 months, or so it feels. 

For me personally, I don’t really watch television shows that talk about books—I’d rather engage in my non-bookish interests when watching television for the most part, and when I do watch TV, I stream a really random bunch of items. But if I’m taking book recommendations, chances are they’re coming from close friends or family who know my own personal taste, or from bloggers I’ve gotten to know, especially when there is a lot of overlap in our preferences. But I think this is enough rambling from me, and I want to hear from you all! So, don’t be shy and tell me your opinions.

Does ‘Big Bookclub” influence your reading habits and if so, how?