By Lisa Carolin
Serendipity Books in downtown Chelsea offers book clubs for all sorts of literary fans, and even has a book club called the Walking Book Club.
It all began with owner Michelle Tuplin’s Afterhours monthly book club, and now includes the monthly Romance Book Club, the bi-monthly Better Tomorrow Book Club centered around social justice, community, and hope, and the bi-monthly Banned Book Club. There is also a Between the Vines Book Club in collaboration with Withington’s and a Hometown Book Club in collaboration with the Chelsea District Library.
The impetus for the Walking Book Club was community member and bookstore supporter Marie Brooks, who asked to volunteer and run the Walking Book Club.
“We knew we wanted something outdoors, accessible, and that would build community,” said Tuplin. “Brainstorming, we came up with the idea of retaining a physical book as the center of actual conversation- no walking along with headphones on for us. The book club would walk around two miles between accessible locations in our downtown, enjoying book-themed conversation with a partner, before stopping at predesignated locations for group check-ins.”
The participants meet at the bookstore, and then start walking, changing conversation partners at each stop. Brooks makes sure it’s a convenient route and prints slips with conversation topics for each segment of the walk.
Initially the idea was to read books focused on walking and the outdoors, but participants were open to reading all sorts of genres. Tuplin curates the selections.
“There is always some tie-in to the book offered,” said Tuplin. “When the book club read Theo of Golden by Allen Levi, a final stop at Withington’s to enjoy a port toast to celebrate friendship and community, as happens in the book, was a great addition. When the book was You Are Here, Marie distributed polished stones from Lake Superior. When the book was The Lion Women of Tehran, the group sampled sour cherry juice.”
Chelsea resident David Shaw enjoyed the experience of participating in the Walking Book Club after reading Theo of Golden.
“One focus of the book club is building community between people who had not previously met, and we were able to discuss the book while walking through our community.” said Shaw.
The Walking Book Club’s next book is Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton. For more information, go to Serendipity Books’ website.
