Book Club FAQs
Books are chosen by members of the book club! In general, we try to vary who’s suggesting selections, and the members vote on the next book.
Book Clubs meet every month.
A book is selected by the group, we read it, and then get together to talk about it. Pretty standard! (If it’s a longer book, we may meet to talk about the first and second halves over two months.)
- Lost Ladies of Literature: 2nd Wednesday 6:30-8:30pm
Inspired by the Lost Ladies of Literature podcast (which we highly recommend!) - we read "lost" classics by women authors.
- To Be Read: 2nd Saturday 12:00-2:00pm
Currently, we alternate monthly between general literature and sci-fi classics. Our goal is to read books driven by broader concepts and themes, rather than driven by characters or straight narratives.
- Books & Banter: 3rd Monday 6:00-8:00pm
We have no specific goal or genre, we just pick books we want to read and discuss. We've read everything from mysteries to newly published literary fiction.
- Classics: 4th Monday 6:00-8:00pm
We read literary classics. Twice a year, we select a longer work, which we then discuss in parts over the following meetings.
- Queer Women: Last Saturday 10:30-12:00pm
Community-run! A casual reading group to meet queer friends in Alexandria. Gender fluid, gender non-conforming, and non-binary friends are also more than welcome to join!Non-Traditional Book Clubs meet every month.
- Duncan Literary Society: 2nd Thursday 6:00-8:00pm
Run by Duncan Library! No assigned reading, just chatting about books we've read/want to read with other avid readers.
- Silent Book Club: 3rd Saturday 1:00-3:00pm
Community-run! Everyone is free to socialize for the first 15 minutes, and then we all settle in with whichever book we've brought to read in a relaxed atmosphere with no interruptions.
You do not need to buy the book from us, but if you ARE planning to buy the book, it helps us out if you buy it from us! Of course, we can’t guarantee we’ll have multiple used copies of every book, but we will always have book club selections listed at Bookshop.org. (We’re big fans, and recommend buying your books from Bookshop whenever possible!)
We don’t have a way to give you a discount directly through their website, but if you show us your receipt, we’ll give you 10% of that total back in store credit! (Only applicable with books purchased on Bookshop.org.)
If enough people are buying books and attending book clubs, we can also start ordering for folks in the future!
Sure! You’ll get our standard $1-3 in store credit (on top of the 10% credit with Bookshop.org purchases).
No, although you’ll probably want to have read at least 75% of the book (it’s hard to discuss a book without having read a decent chunk of it). And keep in mind that we’ll be talking about the entirety of the book, so there’ll definitely be spoilers!
Nope! Book clubs are free! As long as it is supporting our mission to promote literacy, we’re happy to have folks in the store!
That said, it DOES cost us money, primarily in staff time. If you’d like to help support the store and keep book clubs going, the best way is to attend the clubs that interest you, and if you plan to purchase the book, to order through our link at Bookshop.org. (If you aren’t planning to buy the book, ie check it out at the library, fantastic! We’re huge fans of public libraries!)
That said, it DOES cost us money, primarily in staff time. If you’d like to help support the store and keep book clubs going, the best way is to attend the clubs that interest you, and if you plan to purchase the book, to order through our link at Bookshop.org. (If you aren’t planning to buy the book, ie check it out at the library, fantastic! We’re huge fans of public libraries!)
Book clubs are new to us here, and we’re open to suggestions! This is just the current club information, and if people want them to change and/or add more events, we’re happy to work with that. And if you want to try out something different, talk to us, and we can work to make it happen!