Book lovers can let their imaginations run wild in a special book club being offered by the Bermuda College.

The aptly named Imagination Book Club, is run by Bermuda College reference, research and bibliographic instruction librarian Jiselle Alleyne.

"We wanted a forum for adults to be comfortable to express themselves and for adults who love to read to have some form of expression," said Ms Alleyne. "We don't just come and read, we use the broad spectrum of the arts to bring out the contents of the book."

She said it is a good opportunity for people who like to write, particularly poetry.

"You get an opportunity to do that in this book club in response to what you are reading," she said. "It is all literature based but we wanted to include other forms of literacy in the club. I think that slant really attracted the members."

She said there are a lot of programmes for young people and senior citizens, but not so many for people in the middle.

"We wanted to fill that gap so we came up with the idea of the book club with the theme of imagination," said Ms Alleyne. "We just finished the current group, but we are hoping to start back up in September if there is enough interest."

She said this time around the book club only had three people, but they are hoping that with more promotion the next group will be bigger.

"Our group seemed to appreciate that we incorporated those art forms into the book club," said Ms Alleyne. "We had three people coming consistently every week.

"We advertised and then we received calls, which is why we are thinking of restarting in September. We think we might get more numbers next time. People want to read and they are just looking for the right avenue."

The current group read Haitian author Edwidge Danticat's 'Breath, Eyes and Memory' and Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart'.

"One of the book club members is of Haitian ancestry, so she was really excited to get into that book to see her roots," said Ms Alleyne

"One member said he would not usually have picked up these two books.

"But he said he was going to start reading other books by these authors. Those three people definitely said they would come back for the next group."

For the next group, members will be reading Jane Austen's classic novel 'Pride & Prejudice' and Bermudian author Llewellyn Emery's book 'Nothin' But a Pond Dog'.

"We want to give people a touch of different genres that they are not usually accustomed to reading," said Ms Alleyne. "We won't be reading the popular fiction. You can read those books on your own. This is to expose you to different genres and help you to broaden your horizons."

One of the aims of the book group is to get more of the general public through the doors of the Bermuda College library.

"The Bermuda College library is open to the general public," said Ms Alleyne. "Of late, we are finding that people still don't know that. For a $35 fee for the entire year you get membership and full access. We definitely hope that clubs like this will introduce people to our services here."

She said that several members of the Imagination book club expressed surprise at what the library had to offer.

"Some of them became members, so that was a plus," she said. "Our major focus is the students here, but we offer services to the public.

"Through inter-library loan we can get books for you. We can search for articles. If we don't have the information we can direct you to the right institutions. We have agreements with other colleges and libraries."

She said the Imagination book club is totally free, members just have to be willing to explore and imagine. The books are available in the college library, although most members preferred to purchase them.

"From the first session people were willing to see what this was about and they came back," she said. "This was encouraging."

This book club is a revival of a previous one held five years ago.

"People were encouraged that it was starting again," said Ms Alleyne.

In the previous book club, organisers brought in speaker Antwone Fisher who wrote the book 'Finding Fish' with Mim Rivas.

"We have plans for the Book Club to be the jumping off platform for other things," said Ms Alleyne.

In September the book club should be every Wednesday from 5.30 pm to 7 p.m.

For more information about the Imagination book club, contact Ms Alleyne at 236-9000 ext. 4382.