Marylin Kovalis started the Aventura book club to meet new friends and pick up a new hobby. She did that and more — the club has been going strong for three years, and Kovalis credits it with changing the way she sees the world.

“I have become so much more opened minded and learned so many new things,” she said.

Kovalis, 27, is an unlikely reading advocate. A few years ago, you would’ve had a hard time convincing her to browse through a made-for-the-beach thriller, let alone the contemporary literature she tackles now.

“To be honest, before I started the book club I absolutely hated to read,” she said. “I didn’t understand people who would sit for hours and hours and read a book, and I thought it was the most boring thing in the world.”

What changed? A friend suggested she try a romance novel — she picked up one by Danielle Steele and quickly devoured it. More books soon followed. She happened to stumble on a book about the Holocaust, and it affected her in a way she didn’t anticipate. Kovalis is Jewish, and her grandparents escaped the Nazi death camps in Lithuanian. Reading about the Holocaust was a way for her to connect to her heritage.

“Reading books about Holocaust survivors’ experiences and about their lives, it just makes you sit back and look at life and realize that all these little problems you’re going through are nothing compared to what people used to go through,” she said.

Kovalis wanted a way to connect with other people who had the same interest in reading, so she started the club about two and a half years ago. Since then she has worked hard to keep her members engaged and attendance at the meetings has grown. She also started a book club blog at aventurabookworm.blogspot.com.

The conversation is pleasant at her meetings, but she’s not afraid to say so when she dislikes a book, and if other members disagree, that’s fine by her.

“I don’t care if you have something horrible to say about the book or something good,” she said. “We are all very outspoken group and if we have something to say we’re not afraid to hurt each other’s feelings — they’re our opinions.”

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cross posted on our miami herald aventura channel
by Jared Goyette

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4. Tonight’s Aventura Book Club Meeting
5. Aventura Social Network