Here’s how it works.
#1 Each quarter, I pick a focus topic from the content categories at Maison d’Evangeline.
Focus topics include:
Care of the soul,
Essence,
Resistance,
Abundance, whole-hearted living, & the art of life,
Meaningful work,
Meaningful relationships,
Heal the soul, heal the world, and
The wisdom library.
#2 From there, I decide on a question for us to answer through the reading (i.e., bibliotherapy).
So, for example, for the first month we’ll be concentrating on CARE OF THE SOUL and trying to answer the question, What might contribute to the care of our souls?
#3 I’ll then select a list of books I’ll be reading that quarter, in an attempt to answer the question.
You’re welcome to read along with one or all of the books on the list.
BOOK LENGTHS & READ TIMES
I estimate book lengths and read times as follows:
90 days per quarter
Reading 80% of the days (so 72 reading days, in order to give us makeup days if needed, because … life)
15 pages per day x 300 words per page on average = 4500 words per day / 238 words per minute (average person’s reading speed) =
~ 20 minutes of reading per day and
~ 1080 total pages per quarter
I’ll select the number of books to fall within the total pages per quarter to keep our commitment consistent throughout the year.
So, for example, for the first month I selected the following:
Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore (338 pages)
Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle (158 pages)
Get Your Life Back by John Eldredge (203 pages)
Rhythms of Renewal by Rebekah Lyons (288 pages)
That’s a total of 987 pages (so under the 1080-page cap per quarter).
#4 We’ll report on and share about the books as we go.
As we read, we can post our favorite quotes, passages, and notes to the “Marginalia” thread (under “Book notes”).
(Note: Since we’re using Substack for this, we’ll have to experiment a bit with the setup until we find something that works.)
Currently, there are a few options for reviewing and reporting on a book:
Post to the “Say one thing” thread, where you’ll rate it (0-5 stars) and share one thought about the book,
Submit a longer written review and/or essay about the book and/or topic (optional), and/or
Submit an audio review and/or essay about the book and/or topic (optional).
Email your review to maisondevangeline [at] substack [dot] com.
#5 Mix, mingle, and make some friends!
Send in your “Reading pal profile” so that other bibliotherapy club members can get to know you and connect.
Submit it here (in DOC or PDF form), if you have a Google account (or email me at maisondevangeline [at] substack [dot] com if not, and we’ll figure out a different method for submission). Feel free to copy my format, if it helps, or get creative and make something entirely new.
And that’s it!
For now.
I’m making this up as I go, so we’ll adjust things along the way.
Rules and disclaimers
CLUB RULES:
We are inclusive; all are welcome. Except for a**holes (we have a strict no-a**hole policy). A**holery includes:
Spewing hate,
Aggression,
Meanness,
Discrimination,
Rudeness,
(Am I missing anything?).
RSVP. If we ever have live events or meetups, please RSVP if requested to do so.
Be punctual. If we ever have live events, please arrive on time.
Stay on topic. Each thread and chat will have a topic, and I’ll try to include random/off-topic threads for watercooler/miscellaneous chat. And, if we ever have live events, please stay on topic there, too.
Outside of that, just follow Substack’s content guidelines.
DISCLAIMERS:
I’m not a therapist.
There are no banned books in Bibliotherapy Club.
I’m not religious, but do include books of all kinds of religions and philosophies.