They pick a title, read it and then gather to discuss it in detail.
But unlike more traditional book clubs, many of these groups add on another activity — or multiple — to turn their gatherings into social events rather than introverted hangs.
Some of the groups like to run after reading. Others enjoy making charm bracelets. One group hosts an annual “Booksgiving,” where members bring their own titles to wrap for a blind book exchange.
Across the U.S., book clubs have transformed into social scenes, with many readers saying these groups have been a lifeline to building friendships and seeking community in a post-pandemic world.
“It’s definitely evolved from the traditional, ‘Oh, let’s meet at a coffee shop, talk about the book, go over these discussion questions,’” said Ijanae Dawkins, 26, founder of Philly’s chapter of a club called Book and Sip. “I have people every month come up to me at the book parties, and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I was so shy coming into it. This is my first book party. I made three new friends and we’re going out next weekend.’”
Book club events proliferated by 31% on Eventbrite in 2024 compared to 2023, according to recent data from the event platform. In particular, listings for silent book clubs — a type of book event where attendees get to mingle after independently reading in silence — more than doubled while book clubs for romance-fantasy (a staple genre of #BookTok) quadrupled.
Some readers credit the explosive growth of unique book clubs to the Covid-19 pandemic, during which many former book lovers had the time to rediscover their passion for reading. That, combined with a yearning for meaningful relationships and in-person activities, created the opportunity for socially centered book clubs to flourish in recent years.
“Reading is such an escape,” said Allison Yates, 33, who founded Chicago’s inaugural Read and Run club. “But really what people want is to feel something deeply, and it slows us down a lot in a time when everything is digital and everything is fast-paced.”
The trendiest book clubs today incorporate activities outside of discussing the book itself — such as wine tastings, blind book exchanges and local walks or running tours. About 79% of Gen Zers and millennials surveyed by Eventbrite said they are seeking events that blend multiple interests.
Yates’ group meetups, for example, feature a guided run through a string of locations mentioned in that week’s book pick. At a recent gathering, after reading former first lady Michelle Obama’s memoir, “Becoming,” members took a 4-mile run through Chicago’s Hyde Park (where the Obamas resided for years) before ending the event with a book discussion, complete with snacks from a local popcorn chain she frequented as a teenager.
Chicago is among the cities that have seen the most dramatic growth in book-oriented events from 2023 to 2024, according to Eventbrite. Others include San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston.
Searching for such events on the platform typically leads to dozens of local results in a given week. Book club organizers around the country say their events draw in adults from all age ranges, although attendees are still overwhelmingly women or female-presenting.
Since starting the club last January, Dawkins said her Book and Sip chapter has expanded from six to 300 people, with 800 more on the waitlist.
Aside from monthly book discussions, the club hosts regular social events for its members, ranging from Barry’s Bootcamp classes to candle-making sessions to a wintertime book retreat in a lakeside cabin.
The rising popularity of in-person book clubs also coincides with the explosion of book content in online communities like TikTok’s #BookTok or Threads’ #Bookthreads, which give powerful boosts to small authors whose work can easily go viral through online reviews and discourse. Platforms like Goodreads and The StoryGraph have also been likened to social media apps for book lovers who like to track and review their reads.
Mishayla Twyman, 28, said what started in 2022 as an intimate book club between close friends blew up into a community of more than 1,500 members after she began posting their meetings on social media.
“I met a lot of my closest friends through book club, and so we kind of wanted to branch out and be like, ‘OK, let’s make this more than just about books,’” Twyman said of her Austin, Texas-based group, called Your Local Book Club.
The club has worked with local vendors, including photographers, to offer members yearbook-style photos and portraits of their dogs. It has also built a “little free library,” filled with donated books, to place inside a local coffee shop. And the group’s annual “Booksgiving” swap is a member favorite.
Zoë Mahler, who was running a small TikTok page dedicated to New York City bookstores when she first raised the idea for a book club in 2022, was shocked to see how many of her followers expressed interest.
The first few meetings for her group, called Book Club for Book Hoes, sold out immediately. Within months, more than 500 people had joined her waitlist.
“Books are political, in a sense, and there are so many things within books that help us to really navigate the world that we are currently living in, whether that’s like a fantasy novel or a thriller,” Mahler, 29, said. “[Book clubs] open up this idea that we can now all sit together and talk about this book and enjoy this moment together, while also then allowing ourselves to go forth into the world feeling like we’ve learned something.”
