Book Club Day UK: Stories you love, people to meet, a day for book clubs.
What is Book Club Day UK?
Book Club Day UK (11 September) is a time to share the joy of being part of a book club, to encourage new clubs to form and to help support existing book clubs so that even more people will discover how book clubs build stronger, more connected communities. To help with the run up to the day, we are pleased to be shining a spotlight on some book clubs to share how they run their clubs.
Meet the club
Tell us a bit about your club
We all came together because we share a huge enjoyment of books and reading. We were originally part of a group that’s been going for nearly 15 years. Due to the demand for reading groups, 5 of us formed another group and welcomed new members.
What’s the story behind your club’s name?
We are just called 3rd Monday of the Month group. Not very original but we all know when to meet!
Where and how often do you meet?
We are one of 4 groups that meet at Acklam Community Hub & Library, Middlesbrough, on a monthly basis.
Our experience
What do your members enjoy most about being in a book club?
We love listening to each other’s opinions and views of the books. It’s good that we all get something different from a book. These discussions do tend to lead us into sharing our own personal life experiences and we do enjoy the social aspect of the monthly meeting.
What book discussions have stood out?
We all loved The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. It’s rare that we all completely like a book but that one was brilliant. Animal Farm by George Orwell was a surprise because we had a fantastic discussion for such a short book! We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown was a hit. There was a lot of northern dialect in the book and it was fascinating to read, once you got into the rhythm of it. The characters were such lively and funny young women.
Our book club recommendations
What books would your club recommend to others?
📚 The Giver of Star by Jojo Moyes is so well written and an usual subject matter. It has a bit of everything in it.
📚 Go as a River by Shelley Read as we like strong female characters and this was a woman determined to survive!
📚 A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart is an amusing and emotional story about autism and family life.
Are there any authors or genres your group keeps returning to?
We read a good mix of genres. We recently asked for some of the classics and although we tend to avoid the bestsellers, we did enjoy Lessons in Chemistry.
Tips & advice
What advice would you give to someone looking to start their own book club?
The best place to start is with your local library. Even if you don’t want to meet there, they can help with tips and advice and even provide multiple copies of books for your group.
How do you choose your books?
We all enjoy the fact that we don’t choose our own books! We can ask for specific titles but usually the Librarian picks them for us, so we get a good mix of authors and genres and books that we would bever have normally picked up.
Become a Book Club Rep!
The Book Club Hub team will be creating a group of Book Club Hub Reps of leaders of book clubs across the UK. The Book Club Hub Reps will have the chance to:
• Join a WhatsApp Broadcast Group where we will be sharing opportunities from The Reading Agency and publishers for your book clubs
• Join a Book Club Hub Reps meeting in January 2026 where we will be sharing information about our plans for the Book Club Hub and will also give you the opportunity for you to have your say and help shape the offer
• Join a database of information about book clubs who connect with the website so that we can get in touch with you directly for exclusive offers from publishers (your contact information will never be shared with publishers for this, without your permission)
Sign up to be a Book Club Hub Rep here.
Find out more
Visit our page to hear more about Book Club Day UK and how you can get involved.
Let us know if you would like to have a book club spotlight by emailing Kimberley.Sheehan@readingagency.org.uk.
Share your thoughts with us on Facebook, X and Instagram using #BookClubDayUK.
Keep up with all the latest news by joining our Book Club Hub Bulletin.
