Three years ago, in the early days of the pandemic, the literary journal A Public Space put out a call on Twitter: come join us, they said, to read War and Peace. Yiyun Li, who is on their Board of Directors and a Contributing Editor, reads the novel every year, and she was just about to start her annual read; she mentioned that to Brigid Hughes, the Editor of A Public Space, and #TolstoyTogether was born.
I have heard Brigid say that they really didn’t know whether they would get more than a handful of interested followers. Instead, the online book group took off on Twitter, with thousands of readers joining from around the world. Over the course of 85 days, this community read the book. Yiyun posted her (always insightful, always wonderful) comments every day, and many other readers joined in as well. The following year, in conjunction with another reading of War and Peace, APS published a companion guide, Tolstoy Together, full of insights from readers during that first read. It is a marvelous book to consult while reading War and Peace; it is also a fascinating look at the Spring of 2020, as many comments were connecting events in the book to events of that particular fraught moment.
For the past three years, APS has continued to host book clubs under the umbrella of APS Together. I haven’t participated in all of them, but I have joined quite a few, sometimes reading books I have read before, but more often reading books that were new to me, books I might not have read if not for APS Together. Every book club is led by a different writer, and it’s been a marvelous chance to see how different people read, to understand what catches their attention. Throughout the process, a core group of readers has formed, I think, and I suspect there are a number of people who have participated in every book that APS has read. The daily reading is never voluminous—it’s set up that way so that it’s doable, no matter the constraints of one’s life. The reading of each book concludes with a Zoom, bringing together the folks from APS, the leader of that particular book, and the readers.
The current book is To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, led by Mona Simpson. APS has moved APS Together off Twitter, and it now lives on Substack. Every morning, an email arrives, with Mona’s thoughts on the pages read for the day. Once she has commented, other readers join in. Conversations develop. Outside scholarly articles are discussed and linked. A recipe for Boeuf en Daube was posted. The focus is exclusively on the pages at hand.
I don’t know how many times I’ve read To the Lighthouse. Every time I read it, though, I learn more, both as a reader and as a writer. And this time, I have had the chance to learn from this marvelous group of readers, people who are willing to entertain both big and small thoughts. I try to read the section for the day as early in the day as possible and then I check in when I can throughout the day to read and comment on other readers’ thoughts.
I have never particularly enjoyed being part of a book club. Any time I have tried to join one, there has been too much extraneous discussion about lives off the page. I want to think and talk about the book. And that’s what I love about the APS groups. I remember worrying, at the start, that I would be intimidated by some of the other readers. But the space is always inclusive, allowing each reader the room to comment on whatever they have noticed or felt. Often, I find that a particular line stands out for me, and I quote that line and then try—not always successfully—to figure out why I have chosen that sentence to focus on. That type of close reading is so satisfying for me, and I know that it helps me to become a better reader and a better writer.
The read of To the Lighthouse ends this Sunday, and I am very sad to think of both the book and the group ending. There is something so wonderful about beginning each day reading a few pages of a novel like To The Lighthouse. And something equally wonderful in having a group of like-minded readers to share that joy with.
See you in two weeks!
Reread this one too. "See" you there!
The group read was really lively this time and rewarding....