The Bookless Book Club

Most book clubs assign a book. Everyone reads it — or pretends to — and then discusses it. That's fine, but it's not what this is.

We have often found that while we love reading and talking about books, it is very difficult to find a book club that selects titles that we actually want to read. So instead, we've created a bookless book club. You can read whatever you want to read, because whatever you have read is what the club wants to hear about.

bookreports.club is a network of informal meetups for people who read. You show up, tell people what you've been reading lately, and hear what everyone else has been into. No assigned books, no pressure to have finished anything, no agenda other than spreading the joy of reading.

It's sometimes less of a book club, and more of a community get together where everyone happens to read. A lot.

How it works

Each city has its own page with upcoming events — date, time, place. RSVP if you feel like it (it helps people know they won't be alone, so we'd appreciate it if you do so, even if you leave your name blank!), or just show up. Events are usually at a bar or café. There's no membership, and there's no fee. There are only books.

At the event itself, we start with a short round of introductions. Then someone talks about one of the books they've read — usually two to five minutes. People are encouraged to ask questions, and then we move to someone else. We go in semi-random order, but try to get everyone to talk once before anyone goes a second time.

If someone's book naturally segues into a book someone else wants to talk about — thematic connections, same author, whatever — they're encouraged to jump in immediately regardless of ordering. We continue like this until there are no more books to discuss, or we run out of energy. There is often a post-books chat for anyone who wants to stick around.

We'll add email lists and some other features in the future, and if you have any suggestions, please feel free to email the moderator.

Cities

• Boulder, CO See upcoming Boulder events
• Ithaca, NY See upcoming Ithaca events

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