Blind date with a book: MAG Readers Club hosts Book Swap

On Friday 14, the HanzeMAG Readers Club hosted a book swap. The club partnered with Walter’s Bookshop to host an event where book lovers could discover new favourites.

The attendees each brought a book they enjoyed and wanted to share with someone new. To add a touch of mystery, each book was covered by a paper bag. It had some key details written on it: genre and publication year. In their blind dates with a book, everyone selected a new book and opened the bag to discover what they had chosen.

‘I hope they get to mingle with other book lovers and get a new book out of the experience’

Minerva students and Readers Club members Ana Glamuzina and Andreea Luta organised the book swap to bring together book-loving students. Ana said reading has helped her with her mental health since she was a child. She wanted to give people a space to talk about books and find a community of like-minded people. ‘I hope they get to mingle with other book lovers and get a new book out of the experience’, she said. ‘It’s like two in one.’

Julia went home with an old read, which is new for her: Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own

Julia, an International and European Law student at the University of Groningen (RUG), heard about the event on Instagram. She thought it sounded like fun. She brought along some friends and two books to swap. Julia came in with Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward and Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. After the event she went home with a new read: A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf.

Once they had swapped books, the group discussed their recent reads and favourite classics over coffee, tea and cookies. Each attendee also received a ten percent discount on any English books they bought at Walter’s Bookshop during the event.

In the future, Ana said the Readers Club hopes to create a book club that meets every few months to continue their goal of connecting students and creating a reading community.