Credit: Jane Iyer
Summary:
- Reading expands one’s world, offering emotional, intellectual, and cognitive benefits that are especially meaningful for seniors seeking purpose, stimulation, and joy.
- Book clubs provide seniors with community, conversation, and mental engagement, helping reduce loneliness while deepening appreciation for literature.
- Seniors in Singapore, including members of the Singapore Literature Book Club, share that reading and group discussions enrich their lives, encourage socialising, and support well-being.
"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one."
The above quote is a well-known one by author George R.R. Martin, from his book A Dance with Dragons.
The prolific author of the highly successful Game of Thrones series put forward a profound thought in two simple lines: that a reader does not lead just one life, but many (albeit vicariously) through the numerous books and stories they read.
If we’re lucky, we learn this from a very young age, whether from parents who read stories to us at bedtime, or from teachers who read to us at school.
Though children in today’s age may be absorbing stories more through film and video, there’s nothing quite like a printed book, which is tactile and where the words can be traced using one’s fingers.
When I was a child growing up in a kampong without electricity, I had to rely on candles and kerosene lamps for illumination.
When I eventually had the opportunity to learn to read, I would smuggle books and read them under my blanket using a torch after lights-out time. My mother often told neighbours that I had my nose in a book!
The realisation hit me early on that I am limited only by my own mind. If I allowed myself to interact with the characters in a book I was reading, I can have an exciting, adventurous life beyond my kampong, where we were deprived of so many basic necessities.
Through Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books – which the British folk living at the top of the hill above our village threw out – I read about England, snow, ginger beer, and ham rolls. I may not have a concept of what they actually are, but it offered me a window view of a world different to mine.
Advertisement
Benefits of reading
Reading is a solitary pursuit but not necessarily a lonely one. A child, in particular, can create imaginary friends from characters that came from a book. Meanwhile, adults can relate with the angst, problems, and joys that book characters go through.
The gentle art of reading is beneficial not just for the acquisition of knowledge, understanding people, knowing places, and going through thrilling escapades, but may have the added benefit of being a panacea for various ailments.
That is why it is particularly crucial that seniors should develop a rich reading habit. Seniors have to cope with a less robust body and a debilitating mental attitude about themselves and their worth.
Through reading, they can find inner and deeper meaning. They can find joy in the beauty of language, in the turn of a word, the way something rhymes, or through the vistas that open in their mind, which helps shift focus away from the limitations of their physical selves.
Socialising through book clubs
Once a solitary pursuit, more and more people are coming together to form book clubs to talk about books. On the surface, meetings like this help get seniors out of the house and to socialise. This is particularly useful for seniors who live alone. And on a deeper level, the sense of togetherness can provide warmth and joy, helping lift any sense of depression.
Like-minded people who love books could come together to form a book club. This can happen anywhere, whether at a library, community centre, in a condo with your neighbours, even as a group of expatriates or young parents .
In general, the majority of book clubs discuss both fiction and non-fiction genres. Members can discuss the story, content, style of writing, and issues that the book highlights.
Often, there is a leader or facilitator to set the topic of discussion and to create a safe space for each member to express their views about the book. Seniors benefit from such sharing sessions as it stimulates their mind and gives them the opportunity to be heard. This kind of interaction is positive and engaging regardless of one’s opinion about the book.
I am fortunate to have met three seniors who gave me their views on the benefits of joining a book club. Read on below to see what they have to say.
Also read:
Singapore Clay Festival 2025: Hiroko Mita Chronicles Her Journey From Housewife To Pottery Artist
The young silver – who learnt how to shape clay from master potter Iskandar Jalil – will be selling her wares at the Singapore Clay Festival 2025.
St Bernadette Lifestyle Village At TP: New Assisted Living Facility In Temasek Polytechnic Pairs Senior Living With Learning Opportunities
St Bernadette Lifestyle Village at TP, Singapore’s first assisted living facility in a school campus, hopes to promote intergenerational bonding while serving as an institution for experiential learning.
Shamimah Mujtaba
The National Library Board (NLB) recommends that people should “join a book club to discover a different aspect of reading, one where reading becomes a rich and social experience that you may not get from reading alone.”
They support such communities with a strong focus on reading and storytelling that are suitable for seniors with initiatives like StoryingSeniors and Bond Through Stories.
NLB, in particular librarian Pearly Li Pinn Ma, also supported senior bibliophile Shamimah Mujtaba when she conceived the idea of a Singapore Literature Book Club (SLBC). Shamimah said she wanted to form a group where they could “focus on local literature written by local authors.”
Credit: National Library Board
NLB provided support in areas such as resources and promotion, with Shamimah facilitating the sessions. The first SLBC meeting was held in February 2016. The book club now meets every month at Central Library and is free to attend.
Though not targeted only at seniors, the majority of attendees tend to be seniors. The demographic of the attendees do change depending on the book being discussed and the subject matter of the book.
Each gathering attracts around 15 to 20 participants who are eager to explore local literary works together. With the support of NLB, SLBC has given local authors a platform to showcase their books. Some authors have also been invited to attend the gatherings. Maliah Zubir is the current NLB librarian working with Shamimah in supporting the book club.
Jane Iyer
Jane is a young-at-heart, nearly 70-year-old British lady who has been based in Singapore since 1999. Nearly 10 years ago, she started a tour company specialising in Singapore’s history, heritage, and culture.
Over 20 years ago, when she was president of the volunteer-led, non-profit society Friends of the Museums (FOM), she started a couples book club feeling that it was a way for FOM members to meet up and discuss Asian books and authors.
The book club members range from ages 40 to 70, and the group stipulates that any book proposed must be set in Asia and/or written by Asian authors. Both fiction and non-fiction books are welcomed.
Topics for discussion include the author’s motivation in writing the book, whether the characters or scenarios are properly developed or believable, and how well the narrative or story is told or explained. Generally, book authors are not present. But when they are, it is considered “icing on the cake”.
Books that I’ve authored, including Kampong Spirit Gotong Royong and Goodbye My Kampong, were popular reads because the members learnt about life in Singapore’s attap villages in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. They have also learnt about the history and development of modern Singapore through such books.
Jane believes that it’s crucial for seniors to read and to discuss about books.
She adds that some of the best discussions have been where there are differing views on the book.
Jane also emphasises the social aspect of a lively conversation over a cup of tea, glass of wine, or dinner. She believes that single seniors would, in particular, benefit greatly from such interaction and friendly atmosphere, which can combat ailing spirits and loneliness.
Hena Roy
Hena Roy is a 75-year-old silver who believes that “reading is a blessing”. Born in the 1950s, when access to books and libraries were not easily available to her, she has grown to enjoy literature that helps to expand her vocabulary and in boosting her creative thinking. She reads both fiction and non-fiction.
Credit: Hena Roy
As a widowed senior, she finds that joining a book club encourages her to get out of her house to socialise through an activity which brings her joy and fulfilment. She says that “reading as a group, a shared activity, brings about a like-minded community of readers.”
She is actually a pioneer member of the SLBC, and endeavours to attend the 90-minute book discussions regularly. Hena says she is most intrigued by “plot, resonance, topics, interesting characters, and styles of writing.” When authors are present, she finds their backstories interesting.
Hena is also happy when there is a good mix of the young and old at the book club meetings, as she enjoys hearing how the younger members express their opinions and perspective.
She encourages seniors to join a book club, and believes that joining one and reading “can eliminate loneliness and the likelihood of succumbing to depression.”
Through the SLBC, Hena says her life has been made richer by being exposed to local writing by eminent local authors.
