Details

Introduction to BookSoc - what are we?

Welcome to the University of Sheffield Book Society (BookSoc). We're a reading society which focuses around bringing people together through books. The books which we read are generally voted for by our members from a wide range of genres and we favour a democratic way of selecting what we read (rather than the committee chosing for you!). This gives our members, and also us, the chance to read and discuss different types of books that we might not have otherwise! Previous books have included: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, A Room with a View by E. M. Forster and American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. We generally meet every three weeks to discuss the current book, but between discussions we are very active in organising socials, coffee mornings, cinema trips and generally looking for ways of spending time together! We hope you will give it a try and look forward to seeing you at Book Soc!

The Committee

Basically, there's the five of us that organise all the book discussions as well as doing all the admin and organising socials - but at BookSoc, we're a very close-knit group in which everybody can have a say. We are more than welcome to any suggestions on how we can improve the society, or anything you would like to see this year. Our members are the most important thing in the society (apart from books!) and anything you'd like to raise, the five of us are more than happy to help:

President - Genevieve Riley

Secretary - Patrick Robson

Treasurer - James Barker

Social Secretary - Michael Turland

Inclusions Officer - Josh Pascall

What we really are all here for...the books!!

The book discussions that we run at BookSoc are the key events for our society and the books that we read can be chosen by anybody! After our first meeting, we began asking people to have a think about what books they would like to read and getting everybody to choose the books that we read between discussions. Whether this is something you have read in the past and loved (or hated!!)) or whether it's just a book you've never read but always wanted to, we're happy to debate any book!! Our book list for last year (and semester 1 of this year), has included a variety of loved and hated books, some of which being:

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Lolita by Vladamir Nabokov

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike

So, as you can see - there's been a wide variety of books that we've been reading, and we never simply just stick to one genre!! So whatever taste in books you have, you're more than welcome to come along!!

Our plans for 2011/12:

Our aim for this year has been to expand BookSoc even further than before, exploring new ways of branching the society out and involving more people than ever before! It's now semester 2 of the year, but there have been various things that we've tried to improve and run as well as some that we still want to do! These include:

• Continuing with book discussions every three weeks to try and get as many people reading as many books as possible - and hopefully letting everyone discover new genres as well as re-discovering personal favourites.
• Introducing cinema/theatre trips (hopefully to coincide with the relevant books we are reading) to let us compare the ways books/plays are portrayed with our own interpretations as well as to generally socialise as a society.
• The possibility of bringing in an author to the Uni and hosting a book-signing.
• Book-related charity events.
• Continuing with bar-crawls and general socials (including our fantastic Halloween fancy-dress themed social!)
• Promoting alternative socials (such as coffee mornings) for every bar crawl-type social that we do - in order to involve everyone and not exclude those who don't particularly like drinking socials!

So, as you may be able to see - we have had and will probably have lots going on this year! However, we would like just to add that we're not one of these societies that focuses ONLY on drinking - we have a good time and cater to all students with our main focus being on the the things that bring us together - books!!

Extra information that might be useful...

As already pointed out above, we meet generally every three weeks on a Thursday evening (not during the vacation periods or on reading weeks) and aim to choose books which are not too long in order to allow people to fit the society around their Uni life (as we understand there is a lot going on!). After the first couple of discussions, it is more or less open to everybody to suggest the book that the group should read. 

The discussions themselves are a fantastic experience, letting you share your ideas and opinions with like-minded people as well as raising various debates! Contribution is on a voluntary basis and the atmosphere is very relaxed and informal.

Membership fee for 2011/12 stands at £3 for the entire year and you can still join us if you missed us at either the Ultimate Fair or Activities Fair! You can join at any point during the year - we won't ever turn anyone away!!

Last words...

Finally, to everybody reading this page (whether you are new to the University of Sheffield or not) - we would just like to encourage you to come along! BookSoc is a fantastic way to make new friends and just read books!! We always welcome new faces, and can't wait to meet you!

Love BookSoc Committee 2011/12

xxxxx