6
votes
Finding a book club (in Chicago)
I'm a recent college grad in the Chicago area and was planning to join a book club (preferably classic literature) to meet like-minded people my age. Unfortunately, this wound up being a much more difficult task than I expected. Practically all the book clubs I could find online were inactive or had a much older age demographic. Anyone familiar with city have any tips for finding what I'm looking for (a book club or something similar)?
My best general suggestion is looking at local bookstores - through their social media and in person. You'll find readers and book lovers there at the minimum and often a younger crowd.
What you're specifically looking for - recent college grads wanting to read classic lit - is going to be much rarer, but Chicago is at least large enough to make it more likely. Websites like Meetup might still be another option.
/In Illinois but not from Chicago
LFTL: https://www.meetup.com/find/?keywords=book%20club&location=us--il--chicago&source=EVENTS
As someone that’s been in the greater Chicago area for a while, I’ve got to endorse Semicolon!
https://www.semicolonchi.com/
It’s a great bookstore, and I’d bet that they host a book club!
I recently saw a couple of book clubs organized through my local subreddit.
You might have to take the initiative but if you search you might find one that already exists.
English departments at universities will host readings and discussions although not of classic books.
Sometimes of classics if they have an expert on staff or speaking. I attended a presentation by a Tolkien expert who taught at my school for example. (In that case it wasn't a reading but there was some time to discuss with others)