Reading Room

Reading Room is a community of book clubs and writing groups in Sydney that meet regularly in-person to discuss literature, film, and their own work.

The ppl

We're Zoomers, Millenials, students, professionals, artists, academics. Everyone sits somewhere between:

well-readhyper-onlinediscerning

have a dense literary diet

have a diverse media diet

have the taste, want the habit

How the community works

Your bookclub

Everyone is part of a bookclub. At each session, based on what's discussed, and whatever book suggestions are brought in, a vote is put in the group chat to decide the next read.

If another bookclub is reading something you're interested in, you can join as a guest, spaces permitting.

Communal Spaces

Beyond your bookclub, if you're curious, there are shared spaces across the community such as a monthly writers group, a film club, and ad-hoc, self-organised things like gallery visits.

All of this is connected through a WhatsApp server, a collection of group chats that ties the whole community together. It's an ongoing layer of conversation, where well-read, curious, switched-on people discuss books, art, and whatever else they're paying attention to.

But if you just want to show up for your book club, that's fine too!

The community

BC1

accepting new members
Founded2026 APRIL
SCHEDULEFortnight, Tuesdays

Currently Reading

Whores for Gloria

William T. Vollmann

Waiting for Godot

Samuel Beckett

FINISHED READING

  • Love in the Time of Cholera

    Gabriel García Márquez

  • A Million Windows

    Gerald Murnane

  • The Rings of Saturn

    W. G. Sebald

  • All Fours

    Miranda July

  • To the Lighthouse

    Virginia Woolf

  • Roadside Picnic

    Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

BC4

accepting new members
Founded2025 OCT
SCHEDULEMonthly, Thurs

Currently Reading

Transcription

Ben Lerner

The Crying of Lot 49

Thomas Pynchon

FINISHED READING

  • Spring Snow

    Yukio Mishima

  • Libra

    Don DeLillo

  • Butchers Crossing

    John Williams

  • Vile Bodies

    Evelyn Waugh

  • System Stream

    Gerald Murnane

  • The Childrens Bach

    Helen Garner

  • The Vegan

    Andrew Lipstein

BC2

Founded2025 FEB
SCHEDULEFortnight, Wed

Currently Reading

Song of Solomon

Toni Morrison

FINISHED READING

  • London Falling

    Patrick Radden Keefe

  • Libra

    Don DeLillo

  • The Passion According to G.H.

    Clarice Lispector

  • Amygdalatropolis

    B.R. Yeager

  • Picnic at Hanging Rock

    Joan Lindsay

  • Capitalist Realism

    Mark Fisher

  • The Dispossessed

    Ursula K. Le Guin

  • Death and the Penguin

    Andrey Kurkov

  • Train Dreams

    Denis Johnson

  • House of Leaves

    Mark Z. Danielewski

  • The Crying of Lot 49

    Thomas Pynchon

  • The Sluts

    Dennis Cooper

  • Story of the Eye

    Georges Bataille

  • Kim Jiyoung

    Cho Nam-Joo

  • Money

    Martin Amis

  • By Night in Chile

    Roberto Bolaño

  • American Pastoral

    Philip Roth

  • The Plains

    Gerald Murnane

BC3

Founded2025 APRIL
SCHEDULEFlex

FINISHED READING

  • Snow Country

    Yasunari Kawabata

  • The Magus

    John Fowles

  • Elizabeth Costello

    J.M. Coetzee

  • The Passion According to G.H.

    Clarice Lispector

  • Name of the Rose

    Umberto Eco

  • Vineland

    Thomas Pynchon

  • Lily in the Valley

    Honoré de Balzac

  • American Tabloid

    James Ellroy

  • Omensetter's Luck

    William Gass

  • Whores for Gloria

    William T. Vollmann

  • The Waves

    Virginia Woolf

  • Voss

    Patrick White

  • Poems (assorted)

    William Blake

  • A Perfect Day for Bananafish

    J.D. Salinger

  • Franny & Zooey

    J.D. Salinger

  • House of Mirth

    Edith Wharton

  • Labyrinths

    Jorge Luis Borges

The Girls

under construction
SCHEDULEMonthly, Wed nights

A women-only book club focused on feminist and gendered literature, pop-culture criticism, and related topics. We're gauging interest and lining up a first meetup.

The Tunnel

SCHEDULEFlex

A dedicated reading group for William Gass's The Tunnel.

Writers Group

accepting new members
SCHEDULEMonthly

To join, you need to submit one piece (800-2000 words), then attend sessions and give feedback on the work discussed, with the aim of becoming a regular contributor over time.

Events

We're screening Paul Schrader's Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters sometime in July/August. Date TBA.

New Members

Getting an invite

  1. Member Form (7min)

    This helps us understand how you read, what you’re drawn to, and what you’re looking to get out of the bookclub. Take your time with it!

  2. We'll chat about your reading interests/availabilities etc.
  3. Wait a week while we try to find a place for you.
  4. Your invite ❤️
Totally.
Nope.
The bookclubs themselves lean intellectual. The wider community around them leans social (with the exception of writers, which stays more focused).
That's fine. What matters is that you've tried, and that you show up with sincere curiosity and openness. In practice, most people will have finished it, but it's not a hard requirement.
It's easy to visit another bookclub as a guest. Fully switching is a bit harder. Each group is meant to be a stable home, same people, over time. As familiarity builds, the conversations deepen in a way that doesn't really happen if the group is constantly changing.
New Member Form (7 min)
Go to new member form