Book Clubs Melbourne

SILENT BOOK CLUB @ STATE LIBRARY

Welcome! **HOW TO FIND US** We'll be at Guild Cafe inside the State Library. Guild Cafe is opposite Readings bookshop closest to the Russell St entrance. If you enter from the main entrance on Swanston Street, you will need to walk right through the foyer and public reading area, up one flight of steps, enter the Redmond Barry Reading Room and walk through the glass doors out the other end - and you'll find the Guild Cafe (and Readings bookshop). The concierge in the foyer will be able to help you find your way. **ITINERARY** 11am: Meet at Guild Cafe. Choose your seat. Order a drink to support the cafe. (They have a range of sweet and savoury snacks.) Enjoy your book. 12.15pm: Let's chat about what we read, what we loved, and why. 1pm: End of event. [OPTIONAL EXTRA] For those who are not too tired, we can go for lunch together after the event. **COST:** There is an organizer fee of $5 for this event. You can bring cash on the day or PayID me at 0403 413 056 (Serena Low). **GETTING THERE:** The closest train stations are Melbourne Central and State Library.

Melbourne Horror Book Club

Come and join our friendly group of horror fans as we talk about horror books and movies. You don't need to read or watch everything to come and participate! I kindly ask that everyone purchases dinner and/or a drink to cover the room hire costs. If you're new, we meet in the function rooms on the left hand side of the dining area. The books and film for this meetup are: **Contemporary Book** Angel Down by Daniel Kraus https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/Angel-Down/Daniel-Kraus/9781835415382 **Classic Book** The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates https://harpercollins.com.au/products/9780007494217 **Film** Alien: Resurrection

Pride Inside Book Club - July Meeting - Braiding Sweetgrass

Fateless, Imre Kertesz (Nobel 2002)

After enjoying a Hungarian (Krasznahorkai), last meeting, we are rolling straight onto another! Kertesz won the Nobel "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history." *Fateless* (also called *Fatelessness* in another edition) fits this theme. It is about a young boy from Budapest and his experiences in concentration camps. The dispassionate narration of heart-rending events and the character's struggle in adjusting to cruelty and back to kindness is "astonishing". There is also a film adaptation (Alex) from 2005. Since starting this book club a few years ago we have formed a nice core membership. If you haven't come yet, please look out for the books on the table, pull up a chair, order a wine and join us. We like to hear what everyone has to say and enjoy the conversation, we're not cliquey at all! Oh, and to defray the Meetup monthly bill I will accept gold coin contributions or wine if you want to pay for multiple in one hit. I hope to see everyone again at this one with some new faces.

All the Birds, Singing, Evie Wyld (Miles Franklin, 2014)

All the Birds, Singing won the Miles Franklin over novels by Tim Winton and Alexis Wright and the Booker winner that year, The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Tough competition! A contemporary reviewer says the novel "should enhance her reputation as one of our most gifted novelists". Set on an unnamed English Island with flashbacks to a traumatic rural WA upbringing, reviewers praised the interlocking stories, one going forward and the other back into childhood. Full of foreboding and well-paced this book is a great story about a strong woman, well told. Since starting this book club a few years ago we have formed a nice core membership. If you haven't come yet, please look out for the books on the table, pull up a chair, order a wine and join us. We like to hear what everyone has to say and enjoy the conversation, we're not cliquey at all! Oh, and to defray the Meetup monthly bill I will accept gold coin contributions or wine if you want to pay for multiple in one hit. I hope to see everyone again at this one with some new faces.

Paranormal Romance Book Club and Culture

Hi all, Welcome to the August Paranormal Book Club!! If you love books that are lighter and fluffier to read, with supernatural elements (magic, vampires, werewolves, etc.) then you will enjoy this group. After book club we head off and become a tourist in our own city, by attending an exhibition or some other cultural activity. For August, we are going to meet at Time Out Fed Square for book club, then head across to ACMI for a look at their free exhibitions. The play school exhibition we were originally thought about attending, will have concluded. I've included a link to the existing exhibitions and we can discuss which one we want to go to during the meet-up. [What's on | ACMI: Your museum of screen culture](https://www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/?what=exhibition&when_start=2026-08-23&when_end=2026-08-30) The books for Sunday 23 August 2026 are: An Ancient Witches Guide to Modern Dating by Cecilia Edward [An Ancient Witch's Guide to Modern Dating by Cecilia Edward | Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/236810735-an-ancient-witch-s-guide-to-modern-dating) The Book Witch by Meg Schaffer [The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer | Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/238226952-the-book-witch) Stay for a spell by Amy Coombe [Stay for a Spell by Amy Coombe | Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/238766958-stay-for-a-spell) If you would like to look at all the books that we have read so far, click [here](https://1drv.ms/x/s!Am2wjNpl1c1ijCNvt-hrWM8gPaem?e=riV48x). Finally, if you can't make it, please change your RSVP to a NO. Spaces are limited, so it will give other people a chance to attend. Happy reading until then!! 🤓

August 2026 - I Want Everything

Hello book lovers, Our book for August is I Want Everything by Dominic Amerena. It starts with a lie. One small lie to get everything he wants. But one lie leads to another, and another. Caught in his own web of deception, how can he recognise the truth? And what is it going to cost him? The legendary career of reclusive cult author Brenda Shales remains one of Australia’s last unsolved literary mysteries. Her books took the literary world by storm before she disappeared from the public eye, after a mysterious plagiarism case. But when an ambitious young writer stumbles across Brenda at a Melbourne pool, he realises the scoop of a lifetime is floating in front of him: the truth behind why she vanished without a trace. The only problem? He must pretend to be someone he’s not to trick the story out of her. **Winner of The Readings New Australian Fiction Prize 2025** **Shortlisted for the 2026 ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year** https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781761631733/i-want-everything--dominic-amerena--2025--9781761631733

July City Meetup - New time!

**PLEASE NOTE: We're now starting our city meetup at 11am, so it's the same time as our suburb meetup.** Come to our city book club in May! We'll be at the Dymocks Melbourne cafe sitting upstairs in the mezzanine level and we want to hear about what you like to read! For those of you who haven't joined us before, we're a book club with no set book, no homework and no judgement! Come along and tell us what you enjoy reading and what's on your to read list. We ask that you bring no more than four books in total, being a couple you've recently read and/or a couple that are on your to-read list. Given the often adult topics discussed, our meetups aren't suitable for children under the age of 14. **Please note that as advised in our email and post of November 14th 2024 our fees have increased from $5.00 to $6.50 per person per meetup. This is due to Meetup.com doubling the organiser fees for meetup groups. We now pay at least $50 a month to have a Meetup site (unfortunately this cost fluctuates due to Meetup charging us in USD). All fees go towards paying the meetup fees. This can only be accepted via the Meetup site and we do not accept cash on the day.** Similarly, if you are planning to attend, please RSVP on the Meetup site. RSVPs can be made right up until the moment the event starts, we are unable to accept cash on the day or attendances from those who have not RSVPd as we need to plan for attendance numbers and space.

July Book of the month - Piranesi

Book Club: [Piranesi](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48496334-piranesi) by Susanna Clarke If you haven’t read **Piranesi** yet, you’re in for a trip. It’s basically about a guy living in an endless, massive house filled with thousands of statues and halls that literally flood with ocean tides. He’s super chill and loves the place, but as he starts digging into the mysteries of his home, he realizes his life isn’t exactly what he thought it was. It’s a total mind-bender that’s equal parts beautiful, mysterious, and a little bit unsettling. Points of Discussion Sanctuary or Cage? Piranesi loves the house, but we’d probably think it’s a prison. What’s your take? The Other What was your vibe on this guy? Did you trust him from the start? Perspective: Piranesi is so innocent and observant. Did that change how you saw the "normal" world? The Ending: Did it leave you feeling satisfied or did you have a "wait, what?" moment when you finished? I'm super keen to hear what everyone thought. When you first started reading, did you think the house was actually a good place to live, or did you get creeped out immediately?

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon

Tea and Type

Join me for a cozy afternoon of tea, books and writing. ✍🏻💞 I created this group for women who are looking for a community and space to write. I can host it at my place (max 10 people) and will provide tea and a some biscuits. I am a writer and new to Melbourne so I am keen to meet other like minded girls 🤗

* BOOK CHANGE * H is FOR HAWK by Helen McDonald - Thursday 13 AUGUST 2026