Reading as a Way of Bonding

During the COVID pandemic in 2020, I started reading with my friends regularly. It was the best socialization necessitated by the pandemic because reading gives us an excuse to meet online regularly, with meaningful content to discuss.

Reading together can be hard because different people have different book preferences and reading speed. Some folks prefer non-fiction technical books, some prefer workbooks, some fictions. Sometimes, I find myself reading 4 different books with 3 groups. Reading several books in parallel can be a challenge. Setting expectation low, reading slowly, and meeting consistently is the key to our success so far. In 2020/2021, I was able to finish three books with friends: Brothers by Yu Hua, Invisible Planets translated by Ken Liu, and the Pragmatic Programmer by by Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas. These three books gifted me a good amount of quality time with friends. Sometimes, I just want to see my friends and do not really care what we read or not read.

All of my successful reading groups are small: usually just two friends including me. A bigger reading group fizzled out after two meetings. However, as I gain more skills and confidence in my reading commitment, I am more open to read together with a bigger group. Again, setting an expectation before meeting will be the key for maintaining the standards of a reading group.