At audiobook club, a solitary hobby becomes a group connector

On a recent Sunday morning at the base of the pedestrian footbridge on Tredegar Street, there are lycra-wearing runners, families on bikes and couples nursing warm coffees, but a small gathering of people are about to embark on a unique activity.

They’re not here to break a sweat on Belle Isle. Instead this group of about 10 regularly meets to listen to audiobooks while walking together and soaking up nature.

“There's a big benefit to time spent in nature,” said organizer Breelyn Lester. “You have the opportunity to have conversations. Sometimes grounding ourselves in that physical reality, especially when you're working around book clubs and conversations that put an emphasis on discussion.”

The walk is just one page of the world that Lester created, called RVA Readers + Writers. Like many other book clubs, there are regular meetings at people’s houses, in cafes or virtually. Lester has also brought in authors for readings. And she regularly hosts writing groups around town.

“This month, I have a book club at my house about a book called ‘Recipes for an Unexpected Afterlife.’ We're gonna do a recipe exchange with that. Then I've got ‘The Last Contract of Isako,’ at Libby Hill Park and discussing that,” she said.

Lester, who works as a nurse at VCU, said she researches the outdoor spaces before the walks and will often pose related questions.

“If you're talking about Maymont, for example, the book that we're going to be discussing there is called ‘Yesteryear’ – a time travel, psychological thriller,” she said. “What does it mean to think about the land that you sit on in the context of a timeline and to look at a tree and think, okay, someone sat here a hundred years ago and looked at the same tree?”

Bringing people together

RVA Readers + Writers started in 2024 when Lester, 27, noticed a lot of online posts about people looking for book clubs. But they were in places like Philadelphia or San Francisco.

“I hadn't seen anything about Richmond,” she said. “So I put something up on Threads, which I had never used before, and I was really surprised how many people responded. And then I was more surprised by the diversity of the responses in terms of what people's interests were. I realized I had a very unique opportunity to get a bunch of people who were interested in reading, but interested in reading different things.”

Lester said the goal is to try and have at least one nonfiction book and one sci-fi book every three months. 

“We do our best to read widely and to prioritize Virginia authors where we can, and to prioritize things that are going to bring about conversations that are important to our community.”

The audiobook club walks aren’t rigid. There’s no set pace. Breaks are encouraged because they lead to discussions.

“I joined the book club before they started the walks,” said Becca Siegel, who was taking part in her sixth walk. “But I love going on walks. And I love listening to books and I love being with people. When they started, it raised my mental health so much because I get to be around people. I get to be listening to a book and exercising. That's just really nice.”

Theo Mastio, another participant, took a break to watch the kayakers navigate the rocks on the James River, waiting for the group to swing back around. 

This was Mastio’s first walk with the club, though the 23-year-old student at VCU has been part of both the writer’s group and the regular book club for more than a year. They said the group was really welcoming. 

“They accepted me instantly without having a ton of knowledge about something,” they said, adding why the group is special. “I think (it’s) the ability to have a conversation about something controversial and come at it from different sides and (to) be able to respect each other's opinions, dissect where we were coming from, and also feel empathetically for the person who wrote the book.”

This is Sarah Mason’s second time taking the audiobook walk. After five years of living in the city, she still considers herself a newbie. She, too, is listening to “Recipes for an Unexpected Afterlife.”

“Being someone who moved here in her 30s, it's hard to make friends, meet people,” she said. “Also I've actually never walked around the whole isle. So this is a great way for me to find new places, but walk with a community of people, feel safe, and also connect with people that I've been building friendships with.” 

For Lester, being able to talk about books with friends is something she’s been doing since middle school, where she was reading the “Warriors” series. 

“I was at a school with a bunch of really nerdy kids and the fun thing about being in a school with a bunch of nerdy kids is that no one has any shame and there's very little self-awareness about what is cool or not cool,” Lester said. “One of the things we would do was role play ‘Warrior Cats’ at recess.

“I think that's the first one I remember being like, ‘I have to talk to someone about this. I've gotta discuss this with someone.’”