#TaleBlazers Book Club: February
Sometimes the books we are told to read at school just don’t make our heart sing. Take it from someone who studied English Literature at university and had to read 11 texts a week: reading is better when you’re doing it by choice.
At Girlvana, we are constantly reading because we are constantly questioning, challenging, growing and trying to understand more. We wanted to share our reading lists with our community, spark conversations and give you a space to gather your minds to discuss themes and questions without it feeling like school work.
So, here’s the deal: every month, someone from the Girlvana team will pick a book to focus on for the rest of the month. We will send out themes, questions, conversation starters and thoughts to consider while you’re reading, and then at the end of the month, we will gather these thoughts and ideas in a journal entry, as well as in our stories, inviting YOU to be a part of it by tagging us through your feed or IG stories.
Maybe you want to be a solo Tale Blazer, quietly reading and thinking and storing thoughts. You can choose to share them or not. It’s totally up to you. If you and your friends are crazy for books, why not get a group together to read and discuss throughout the month, and record your thoughts and send them over to us so we can share your incredible ideas.
REMEMBER: there is no right or wrong when it comes to your experience of reading. This isn’t school. This isn’t a test. There is no judgement. We are all unique in our view points and the way we consume words. What you see might not what someone else has taken from it. That’s why we wanted to start this club - so we can create a space where ideas are shared and multiplied, making the whole experience more tangible and physical, and for everyone to be a part of.
We don’t want to make this hard work. Become a Tale Blazer, because stories are our past, present and future, and we need more people to be telling stories and sharing their thoughts with the world. Your opinions matter. Your voice matters. Let’s start setting these tales alight.
K, LET’S GO! Ready for your first book?
With February marking Black History Month, we thought we would kick off #TaleBlazers with Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give, which follows the story of Starr, a young black teenager living in two worlds: the black neighborhood she was born and raised in and the white, privileged private school she attends in the suburbs. After witnessing the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer, Starr’s worlds collide and she finds herself fighting between speaking up to defend her community, and keeping quiet to stay alive.
Just to start you off - this book deals with racial tension and especially comes alive in the character of Starr, who constantly finds herself caught in the middle of what feels like black vs white. Where else in the book can you see this conflict coming into play? Are there other characters who share this conflict?
If you find yourselves wanting to discuss the book as you go, just tag us @girlvanayoga in a story or post, slide into our DMs, email us or share your ideas with friends. At the end of the month, we’ll share some of our own ideas and thoughts, and try our hand at answering any questions you might have.
Written by our content manager, Cat (writer of Always The Night, a piece on heartbreak for the Girlvana Journal). Cat is a Feelvana YTT graduate, music lover, London native, WOC and impassioned advocate for empowering womxn worldwide.