Jane McAnallen appreciates the laidback yet compelling discussions found each semester at the Honors Program Book Club.

When McKenna Adams, Point Park graduate and former book club member, first joined the group, she looked forward to opportunities to meet authors and hear firsthand about their work.

Honors Program President Laura Byko said the opportunities can enrich one’s education and mindset.

The Honors Program Book Club offers honors students the chance to participate in literary pursuits outside of the classroom each semester.

“The book club was a function of HSO where we wanted students to be intellectually engaged outside of the classroom,” McAnallen, the club’s leader, said. “It’s a way to have really deep, analytical, and intellectual discussions without being in a classroom.”

Each semester, the book club chooses a book to read based on the authors participating in the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures series held at Carnegie Music Hall. For the spring semester, the club chose to read “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel, and attended her lecture and Q&A segment on Feb. 15. Mandel also visited Point Park earlier in the day in hopes of having a “casual conversation” with the students.

McAnallen said she appreciates the “really chill” atmosphere of the book club, which gives her a break from the classroom structure. Book club members meet at 4:30 p.m. each Thursday on the first floor of the library. Meetings start off with casual conversation and slowly delve into the chapters of the book for the next hour. The members discuss characters, plot lines and share their favorite quotes. The members even draw references and relate aspects of the story to everyday life.

“We have the opportunity to hang out with other people who are interested in having intellectual conversations who aren’t there for a grade,” McAnallen said.

Each semester, the book club gives its members the opportunity to attend the author’s lecture at Carnegie Music Hall. Last semester the club read David Mitchell’s “Cloud Atlas” and students were able to speak with Mitchell after the lecture.

“I was so excited to meet David Mitchell,” Adams said. “Hearing him speak, he just sounded like a regular person, which made me fall more in love with him.”

Similarly, the students did the same thing with Mandel. Besides listening to Mandel when she came to Point Park to lecture, a small group of students also attended a reception and dinner with Mandel after the lecture.

“It’s Emily all day,” said McAnallen.

Last semester, reading “Cloud Atlas” with the book club allowed University 101 students to “honorize” the class and earn honors credits. To graduate as a member of the honors program, students need to take six honors-deemed courses, and by “honorizing” a course, students complete coursework that is not needed in the traditional coursework and syllabus of the class.

“Administrators would not let us have an Honors University 101 class,” Honors Program Director Helen Fallon said. “Reading ‘Cloud Atlas’ was one of two additional assignments.”

The book club has been an asset for many members to help expand their horizons intellectually.

“I transferred to Point Park in 2013,” Byko said. “I found some of my favorite writers that changed my life philosophy.”

The Honors Program Book Club hopes to expand its membership and that others will benefit from all insight and events it offers.

“The book club has great value,” Fallon said.

Great communication, a wide array of books and the give and take of knowledge were all reasons for Fallon’s belief in the club.