body''.

And every few weeks, members of various book clubs around the Island get together to give their brains a workout with some powerful prose.

Even talk show queen Oprah Winfrey recognises that television isn't everything -- she has her own book club to encourage people to become bookworms.

Vernee m Fullerton said it was her love of the written word and a desire for knowledge that led her to become a member of a small local book club.

"The group started out with a few people who decided to get together to promote knowledge,'' she said. "We are all avid readers who want to share knowledge.'' Ms Fullerton said the book club has read a variety of works ranging from the historical to the fictional.

"We have read books on Bermuda, Ireland, Africa and Canada,'' she recalled.

"A couple of times we have also slipped in some films. It helps to mix things up.'' She said the group gives themselves six weeks to read a book and once they have completed their chosen novel they get together and share their feelings about the book.

"We meet every six weeks on a Sunday to discuss a book,'' she explained. "We discuss the author, the moral of the story and how the book affected us.

"At the moment we are reading D.H. Lawrence written by Brenda Madox.'' Ms Fullerton said the small, but diverse, group would like to gain a few more committed members.

"We're going public because we are a young, small group and we need more feedback,'' she explained. "But we don't want to get too big, book clubs over 10 or 15 people are too big.

"We have both men and women in the group, but it would be nice if we had some more men.'' And she encouraged others, especially young people, to start up their own book clubs, noting there could never be too many groups.

"It would be nice if some young groups start up, hopefully we can inspire some teenagers to discover the joys of reading.

"There are tons of book clubs around, but then you can never have too many book clubs. Multiple book clubs are a good thing.

"We would also like to meet up with other book clubs so we can do a book swap. It would be nice to exchange books and ideas.

"Who knows maybe all the book clubs could develop into an association.''