On Book Clubs

Reading is, by its very nature, a solitary activity, but that doesn’t mean it cannot create community. Usually, it’s one reader vs. one book. Of course, there are ways to make reading communal, such as story time or reading a book aloud in class or at bedtime. However, when I visit my local library, a community board by the entrance displays posters and information about the various activities the staff organizes. There is also a magazine, published monthly, that lists activities at all branches. I will say this: of all the activities, book clubs rule! One of our local bookstores hosts its own book clubs too: one particular bookstore hosts 4 book clubs in September 2026 alone. Pastry shops open their doors to book lovers: One macaron shop currently hosts 5 clubs and pairs the books with private film screenings. Even if an obvious marketing strategy is in the background, these gatherings seem to answer a genuine need.

What makes book clubs so appealing that more than a dozen groups meet in my area to discuss one book every month? Even I caught the book-club bug myself: I belonged to a book club of colleagues when I lived in Boston. More surprisingly, my 9-year-old daughter and her best friend just created their own book club. They had been planning it for months and held their first meeting on Labor Day at my house. It was something to see five 8- to 9-year-old girls in my living room passionately discussing the Pigeon Book Series. Even the little sister of one of them wanted to stay (she was 2!).

Across local libraries, bookstores, and pastry shops, I have found at least 16 specialized book clubs that meet every month. The topics are as varied as the locations. Some genre book clubs appear multiple times, but there are also original communities. In the area where I live, we find the following: 3 general/mixed reading book clubs; 2 mystery book clubs; 2 horror book clubs; then one of the following: romance, classics, history, non-fiction, fantasy and science fiction, banned/challenged books, cookbooks, choose-your-own, movie; the list goes on. We don’t have any silent book clubs in the area, but they do exist. Booktubers create their own online book clubs, and celebrities do too: Oprah Winfrey (since 1996), Reese Witherspoon (2017), Jenna Bush Hager on NBC’s Today (2019), and Good Morning America has a book club too.

Why are book clubs on the rise in 2026? A recent Pew Research Center survey conducted in October 2025 found that 7% of U.S. adults had participated in a book club during the previous 12 months. Women participated at about twice the rate of men (10% versus 5%). BookBrowse estimates that roughly 13 million U.S. adults participate in book clubs, although that figure is an estimate rather than a government statistic. So book clubs are more visible, and they have entered the regular routines of millions of Americans.

Libraries organize these clubs so patrons can discover new reads, talk about them, and meet new people with similar interests. 

One thread connects all members of the same club: an interest in something, whether it is a genre, an author, a type, or a series. 

Let’s begin with the obvious to take it out of the way: 

• After years of pandemic and confinement, even isolation, the desire to gather has returned roaring. The first idea is to socialize, build connections, and form friendships where discussion happens naturally, instead of being forced. 
• The second idea is to discover new books, new authors readers would not have otherwise picked up. Fable’s 2026 State of Reading report found that discovering new authors is one of the leading reasons readers participate in book clubs. Clubs expose members to genres, writers, and subjects outside their normal reading habits.
• Thirdly, readers join a club to talk with people who share the same interest, live in the same neighborhood, share the same knowledge of a topic, and maybe more: they come to learn from others and their perspectives. They also offer a space for exchanging ideas and conversation, echoing 18th-century French salons. There is a need to discover and to share. 
• The fourth reason is to escape the pressures of everyday life. Gatherings such as silent book clubs reduce the stress of interaction. Reading around other people who are also, well, reading, without having to make conversation, is relaxing. The house could be too noisy, too distracting, too busy.
• In a world connected 100% of the time, getting away from screens can be another reason why readers join book clubs: to talk and share, be active and not just be passive in front of a screen.
• Another reason is motivation: sometimes a little motivation can go a long way. Sometimes, one motivated person can change or challenge the attitude of another reader. 
• Last, getting out of the house is a valid reason to join a book club, especially as more people work from home. 

Reading is a paradox, and book clubs express it well: yes, it is a solitary activity. Yes, it involves one person and one book. However, books are born of the art of storytelling, which was once an oral art dating back to the earliest times: The Iliad and The Odyssey were originally oral poems. In Western Europe, many fables and fairy tales were first created to entertain adults around the fireplace before authors and folklorists such as Perrault (France), Andersen (Denmark), and the Grimm brothers (Germany) collected them. And maybe book clubs are doing just that: reconciling the written story (it is true that most book clubs are based on fiction) with the oral art of storytelling. Really, there is nothing new under the sun, just old traditions in newer garments.

And you? Do you like to discuss your reading experience, or do you prefer to keep it to yourself? Are you part of a book club? What genre? Or what type of book clubs would you like to see coming to your city?