Reading Across Genres and Communities With the Wesleyan Book Club

When Dikshya Kuikel ’26 and Alanna Dwyer ’26 send out meeting information to the Wesleyan Book Club, they always sign off their emails with a link to their Goodreads profiles. It’s a small detail that demonstrates the casual yet highly devoted culture of the club. 

The Wesleyan Book Club was started by Alice Dauchez ’23, an English and math major. Kuikel met Dauchez their freshman year at the Involvement Fair and has carried on Dauchez’s project for the past four years.

“I went to the first meeting, and I went to every subsequent meeting,” Kuikel said. “I just love the idea of reading a book with [others], getting to talk to them about it, getting to share thoughts. You learn a lot more about the book.”

The meetings aren’t only for a select literati, however. Kuikel and Dwyer agree that humanities and STEM majors alike can feel welcome at the meetings.

“We absolutely get a wide range of people,” Kuikel said. “For example, all three of us are STEM majors. And the previous president was also [majoring in] neuroscience. We definitely get people interested in Book Club because they’re English majors, [and] they read a lot for class. [But] anyone can be interested in reading books.”

Kuikel is a highly enthusiastic host. They find joy in meeting new people and bantering with them about works of literature, serious or not.

“I love hosting Book Club because you get to meet so many people,” Kuikel said. “A lot of times we’re just joking around. It’s fun to read a book if you like it, [or maybe] talk about how ridiculous it was…. That’s why I like hosting the club, and I’ve met so many people, [and] have made so many good friends in the club.”

Book Club typically meets every two weeks, and they all read the same book(s). For their next meeting on May 2, the club will discuss “These Violent Delights” by Micah Nemerever, a sentimental thriller set in the ’70s in Pittsburgh, Pa., that follows the chaotic romance of two college freshmen. But don’t fret if you aren’t into dark academia—Book Club traverses many genres and styles.

Last month, they read “Sula” by Toni Morrison and “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng, and a month before, they read “Intermezzo” by Sally Rooney. They’ve even read “Heated Rivalry,” the source text for the smash hit TV show that follows two hockey players making eyes on the ice. Book Club has even challenged its most voracious bookworms to devour “The Count of Monte Cristo,” a mammoth text of over 1,000 pages. Truly, Book Club has something for everyone.

“We read quite a variety of books,” Kuikel said. “We read romance, sometimes ridiculous romance. We read a lot of lit fic. We’ve read fantasy. We read a lot of classics, too. Everyone recommends books for the month, and so we get a wide variety of potential books. And my favorite one… I think I have to say ‘The Count of Monte Cristo.’ It’s a giant book. It’s 1,200 pages, I think. And so we had decided that last year it would be our summer 2025 read. It took me all summer, all fall, and up until December to read that book, because it was a book that you could pick up and put down. It was a monster.”

Book Club also forces readers to start texts they were hesitant to pick up, or would have never known about.

“I had prejudice against [Sally Rooney] before I read [“Intermezzo”], because of the “Normal People” show, [since] I’d seen all these weird edits,” Dwyer said. “[I] was like, I’m probably not going to read anything [by] her. But then we read ‘Intermezzo,’ and I was like ‘Ohhh, I get it.’”

In proper bookish fashion, Book Club indulges talk every so often about the faithfulness of movies to their chosen book.

“I think when we read ‘Frankenstein,’ the movie had just come out,” Kuikel said. “I actually still haven’t seen it, but we had someone that watched the movie, and we were talking about how similar it was…what changed and what didn’t.”

When talking about their goal in hosting Book Club, Kuikel acknowledged that it can be difficult for people to find the time to read for pleasure. However, they don’t think that should stop anyone from picking up a good book.

“I hope people can find a community [where] they would like to discuss books,” Kuikel said. “When you’re a college student, you’re really busy, and it’s hard to read a book in your own free time sometimes. So having people that are reading it with you, having that expectation of people want[ing] to read…can also [motivate] you to read books. So I want more people to be able to read books, and more people to enjoy books, and also think critically about books. That’s what I think the club has to offer.”

At the end of Book Club meetings, everybody at the table calls out books they want to read for the month. Anyone can recommend a book, and then the list of ideas goes out to the entire listserv. Members can then vote on the book(s) they want to read.

“It is very democratic,” Kuikel said.

Book club meetings are open to the public. All are welcome, whether or not you have read the book. The next and final meeting of the semester will be held May 2 at 12:00 p.m. in PAC 309.

Conrad Lewis can be reached at cglewis@wesleyan.edu.

Mennatallah Antar can be reached at mantar@wesleyan.edu.