Gone

After nine years, Readerville is shutting down for good. I've mentioned this place now and then as the venue that got me started discussing books online, but I'm not sure I've ever touched on just how much it meant to me and how sad I am it will be no more. Because it was a happy place. I "met" and made so many friends there. I was a regular member through the majority of my formal education, including the writing and defending of my thesis. I got pregnant and they threw me a virtual baby shower, sending me the most beloved books of their childhood. Logging on and checking out the threads marked the beginning of every day. Suffice it to say, it and its members had a huge influence on my life at a time when I needed that kind of community. I've moved on to blogging now and it is wonderful in its own way as well. But something inside seemed to go out when I read that announcement. So here are a couple of favorite posts from the 'Ville, in which people describe what Readerville meant to them.

You know, people see what they want to see. We're too clubby, too nice, too intellectual, too female, too liberal, too mainstream, too straight. It's just like life, folks. "We" are not any one thing. "We" are a bunch o' folk who like to read. Some of us are nice, some are prickly. Most are a combination of the two. Some read Proust. Some read Clancy. Some hold others "in the light." Some hold their noses. Some like God. Some like flowers. Most like good food. All like books. --NancyS

But on the flip-side, the internet can also bring people of different viewpoints together. People of all political and philosophical stripes can enjoy talking about good books, or even about how much they love their VW New Beetles or the details of planning their next trip to Disney World, etc. As we build and spend time in communities based on these particular interests, we have the opportunity to hear, from people we like and respect as friends, different viewpoints from our own in politics, religion and other "hot-button" issues. I think that can defuse the tendency we all have on occasion to think of those on the other side of the political spectrum as "them" vs. "us." It's hard to think of someone that way if they just sent you the new Mary Russell or a no-fail recipe for spice cake or step-by-step instructions for de-fragmenting your computer. And, to me, that is a good thing. --CKDexterHaven

I loved you, Readerville. R.I.P.