Welcome to the club

A journey around the world through literature

Welcome to The Globetrotting Bookworm

I’m thrilled to welcome you to The Globetrotting Bookworm Book Club! In this cozy corner of the internet, we’ll explore books by women from around the world. My first love was books, so I thought it fitting to announce the launch of my online book club on Valentine’s Day ❤️

Why Substack

The beginning of this Substack started with an ending. After all, isn’t that how most beginnings begin? I lost my job, my community, my independence, my sense of purpose—and most importantly, myself. I wanted purpose and direction. I was craving connection. I needed a passion project. The job loss was devastating, but not one to let the grass grow under my feet, I decided to finally do the one thing I’d always wanted to do but never had the time (or courage) to: write.

But write what?

Did I have anything of value and importance to say?

Would anyone be interested in reading what I write?

I vacillated and changed directions so many times before finally settling on the three publications you will find on my Substack: Flash Flex, Musings & Meanderings (both still being created with love), and The Globetrotting Bookworm (the reason you are all here).

After nearly eight months of hemming and hawing, I am feeling excited, relieved, nervous, motivated, anxious, but mostly excited about embarking on this journey. I am so grateful to have you first subscribers here, as many of you I know personally, and you have been my biggest cheerleaders on this endeavor. This first newsletter is dedicated to you. Thank you for your support and for believing in me 🙏

The Birth of a Book Club

I will explain the catalyst for the Morgan in Wanderland Substack in a later newsletter. Today, I want to tell you about the birth of The Globetrotting Bookworm Book Club.

My passion for travel was first sparked not by a trip, but through the written word. Unlike other kids my age with posters of tween stars posted all over their bedroom walls, mine were covered with pictures from National Geographic— of places I wanted to visit and people I wanted to meet. I was vision boarding before vision boarding was a thing. I have always been curious about the world and the people in it and when I haven't been able to hop on a plane and flit around the globe, I have globetrotted through literature. Now, I want to invite you all on this journey with me. In forming this book club, I had the following goals in mind 📚

o Build community

o Bring more exposure to women authors around the world

o Help you (and myself) get out of our reading comfort zones

o Think more critically about the books we read

o Help you with your New Year’s resolutions: read more, try new things, build community, travel (some of us can't for whatever reason, but this is a journey you can take without even having to pack your bags)

o Engage in discussions with people from different backgrounds, exploring topics and ideas spawned by the literature we read. It is my hope that the stories we read encourage reflection and conversation.

o Learn about our world and the people in it

o Foster empathy and understanding

Why I’m passionate about books by women authors from around the world

Throughout my travels, one thing I have learned is how deeply connected we are despite our differences. Women everywhere share certain experiences that transcend borders and cultures. In my many years of reading books by and about women from different countries, I have gained a powerful sense of connection, understanding, and solidarity that has inspired me and broadened my perspective of the world. One of the key initiatives of this project is to celebrate and amplify the voices of women authors globally. I hope to do this by focusing on authors who have a deep, personal connection to the countries and cultures they write about, through whose writing we as readers will be able to gain an authentic perspective 🌍

What to expect

· Free and paid content (as a thank-you for joining me at the very beginning of this exciting journey, I’m offering the newsletter—and ALL its perks—completely free for the first three months)

· Access to a global community where you can discuss your thoughts and ideas

· Weekly newsletters including information, history, culture, and news about the country and author

· Additional resources: book reviews and recommendations, playlists, recipes, links to relevant articles

· Voting rights for paid members

· Monthly podcast for paid members

· Thought provoking questions to reflect on themes in the book

· Exploration of topics in the book and in the publishing industry at large

· Book club discussion questions for paid members

· Curated list of books, both fiction and nonfiction, across various genres (I did the research, so you don’t have to. This has been quite a big undertaking for me. As I have come to discover in my initial research for this project, finding female voices in certain parts of the world is not the easiest task. More on this in a later newsletter…)

Call to action

I encourage all of you to introduce yourselves in the comments. Especially now in the beginning while we have an intimate group, I would love you all to get to know each other. I already know many of you, and I want the rest of you to know how fabulous everyone is! Let us know a little about you – where you’re from, where you live, what are some of your favorite places in the world, your favorite books, and what are you most looking forward to as a member of this book club 💬

*Watch your inboxes for next week’s newsletter and our official book club kickoff!*

Happy reading!

Morgan