The State of Reading

One of the most striking phenomena of 2013, both in China's capital and elsewhere, was the sudden emergence of book clubs. They come in all shapes and sizes, and range from simple and austere to luxurious and grand, from private homes to public venues, from one-off meetings to long-term memberships, from physical world encounters to virtual meet-ups on the Web. Actually, book clubs are nothing new, but it's their taking the public spotlight that has been sudden.