What we’re about
Salutations!
(To avoid surprises, please read all the info before joining.)
We may be the first NYC book club specifically created for folks in their 20s and 30s, though we've expanded to welcome those 18-45-ish**. Well, we've been around for quite awhile anyway, over 10 years and counting!
We've had a ton of great readers, read a smorgasbord of books, and enjoyed lively conversations over great food & drink, through Zoom, and on blankets in the parks. Our discussions are organic, meandering through the books with no set structure or agenda. We look forward to having you join us and becoming a part of our growing circle of friends!
**Don't forget to check out our sister group, The Millennialish LongReads Book Club, which meets at the same place on the same day right before this one, just every-other month!
A few quick items of note:
1. If you RSVP for a meeting and then can't make it, we just ask that you un-RSVP.
2. We provide a 90-day free trial for you to see if our group's a good fit. We have $5 annual dues (which works out to 40 cents a meeting) to help cover Meetup's costs for running a group. You can pay online or in person. **Keep in mind that you might have a once-a-year auto-withdrawal occur, and an online refund might not be possible.**
3. We have done other things as well, such as: going to the movies to see the film adaptation of a selection; attending BookCon when it's in the City; meeting authors at their signings; and, hitting the parks.
4. All of our selections are determined by...YOU! Periodically, we ask our members for future selection suggestions, compile them into a poll, and then everyone votes. The five books that garner the most votes make up our next batch of titles.
5. Here's a sampling of our past reads:
- "A Visit from the Goon Squad," by Jennifer Egan
- "The Handmaid's Tale," by Margaret Atwood
- "Room," by Emma Donoghue
- "The Master & Margarita," by Mikhail Bulgakov
- "The City We Became," by N.K. Jemisin
- "Super Sad True Love Story," by Gary Shteyngart
- "Flowers for Algernon," by Daniel Keyes
- "A Tale for the Time Being," by Ruth Ozeki
- "In the Dream House," by Carmen Maria Machado
- "Middlesex," by Jeffrey Eugenides
- "The Devil in the White City," by Erik Larson
- "Freedom," by Jonathan Franzen
- "Ready Player One," by Ernest Cline
- "Wuthering Heights," by Emily Brontë
- "Never Let Me Go," by Kazuo Ishiguro
- "Slaughterhouse-Five," by Kurt Vonnegut
- "Behold the Dreamer," by Imbolo Mbue
- "Rebecca," by Daphne du Maurier
- "The Night Circus," by Erin Morgenstern
- "The Goldfinch," by Donna Tartt
- "Piranesi," by Susanna Clarke
- "American Pastoral," by Philip Roth
- "Let the Great World Spin," by Colum McCann
- "The Henna Artist," by Alka Joshi
- "Mexican Gothic," by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue," by V.E. Schwab
- "Speak, Memory," by Vladimir Nabokov
- "Gone Girl," by Gillian Flynn
- "Educated," by Tara Westover
- "In Cold Blood," by Truman Capote
- "A Confederacy of Dunces," by John Kennedy Toole
- "Snow Crash," by Neal Stephenson
- "Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore," by Robin Sloan
Looking forward to meeting you soon!
Jason
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Bonus Get-Together! Bookstore Crawl & Good Eats!Needs location
Let’s go on a bookstore crawl, and hit up some restaurants! This get-together is for those of us who want: 1. more than just our once-monthly meetings, 2. to explore parts of the city, 3. to glimpse some of the NYC biblio & dining scenes, 4. to socialize and make new friends, and 5. to stock up our TBRs, especially beach reads for our upcoming summer vacations. A map with the locations numbered is attached to this event.
Some quick notes followed by the itinerary:
1. You don’t have to stick to the whole schedule, it’s to give you a gauge of where we’ll probably be and when. Join us when you want and leave when you want, skip ahead or lag behind, buy more than you can carry or nothing at all.
2. Some of these shops are small and others very large, hence the differences in the estimated time spent at each. Travel time is what’s allotted between locations based on Google Map’s walking estimates. *Also note, nearly all of these locations are near subway & bus stops if that’s your travel preference.*
3. We’ve picked three places to grab food and drinks. Their times in the below itinerary are definitely set in stone. All of them recommend reservations. So if you want to join the group for lunch, dinner, and/or drinks afterward, please RSVP to co-organizers Jason or Maria by May 15th. You can DM us here on Meetup. Please RSVP with 99% certainty that you can meet up—and hey, things come up, and if they do just send us an un-RSVPing DM as soon as you know.
Unless the weather is extreme, we’ll be having this crawl rain or shine, so plan accordingly. This description will be edited with any relevant updates regarding other situations as well, such as if a store closes.
The Itinerary:
- McNally Jackson Seaport. 10:00 – 10:45 am. In the historic South Street Seaport area, it’s 2 floors in a 200-year-old building with books and armchairs galore. *This shop has a café.
- The Mysterious Bookshop. 11:15 – 11:45 am. World-famous niche independent bookstore and press, specializing in new and rare mystery & suspense fiction. Check out their Sherlock Holmes wall! Otto, the owner, is a famous editor in his own right.
- The Grey Dog – Nolita. 12:15 – 1:15 pm. Lunchtime! Serves simple, wholesome American food and great drinks. Prices are reasonable and the atmosphere is vibrant.
- Goods for the Study — Nolita. 1:15 – 1:35 pm. For all you writers! A stationery boutique and pen shop, you’ll find tons of writing instruments, office accessories, and paper goods.
- Housing Works — SoHo. 1:45 – 2:15 pm. This non-profit has sales from its donated stock go to fighting AIDS & homelessness. They accept donations if you want to trade-in! *This shop has a café.
- Pillow-Cat Books. 2:30 – 3:00 pm. This niche independent is the city’s first animal-themed bookshop! New, used, vintage, and antique books & goodies await. Might just see a real animal too!
- Barnes & Noble Union Square. 3:30 – 4:45 pm. The famous chain’s most famous location, and #1 spot for author-spottings in the city! *This store has a café.
- Lillie’s Victorian Union Square. 5:00 – 6:15 pm. Dinnertime! A little early, but we’ll beat the crowd. Eat & drink in a sumptuous Victorian setting. Prices are reasonable and the atmosphere is laid-back chic.
- The Strand. 6:30 – 8:00 pm. The crown jewel! The city’s most famous bookstore. 18 miles of books, clothes, and more, spread across 3 floors. The last of the many, many Book Row bookshops. You can trade-in books here. *This shop has a café.
- The Ready Rooftop Bar. 8:00 pm – whenever. Celebratory drinks! (RSVP for this as well.) Do you still have energy? Really?! Well, we're still young after all. This rooftop bar has become a popular nightlife spot. Let’s celebrate a day well-spent with great friends!
The Event Chat will be running so you can contact the group at any time. Any questions you have, send them to Jason or Maria! Hope to see you out!