{"id":270920,"date":"2026-04-16T15:33:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/270920\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:33:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:33:14","slug":"l-a-book-clubs-reimagined-with-silent-parties-book-crawls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/270920\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A. book clubs reimagined with silent parties, book crawls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At first glance, the horde of pedestrians \u2014 mostly young women \u2014 circling the streets of Santa Monica in late January appeared to be a run club. Indeed, many were dressed for it, wearing tennis shoes and baseball caps to evade the sweltering sun. <\/p>\n

Upon closer inspection, though, the clues were visible: the group\u2019s relaxed pace, the bountiful tote bags, the occasional flash of a paperback. This was no run club, but instead the Preoccupied<\/a> literary social calendar\u2019s Walking Book Club, a monthly L.A.-based event where readers take a 40-minute (or so) stroll with a featured author, followed by discounted shopping at a local bookstore. <\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Preoccupied Walking Book Club allows readers and authors to connect in a more flexible format. <\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

January\u2019s pick<\/a> was Ali Rosen, who was promoting her romance novel, \u201cThe Slow Burn,\u201d at one of the more unconventional stops on her book tour. Although these days, as many fan-facing authors know, the \u201cunconventional\u201d book event is becoming increasingly, well, conventional. Driven by Gen Z and millennial organizers eager to shed the isolation of the pandemic era, events ranging from book crawls to silent reading parties are successfully turning time spent with literature into happening social occasions.<\/p>\n

The book crawl<\/p>\n

When Allison Ambili Kumar moved to L.A. in 2023, she said she was \u201coverwhelmed in a good way\u201d by the sheer volume of local bookstores and authors. But she also noticed that the market was saturated with author panels and conversations while lacking spaces where book lovers could interact with each other more organically.<\/p>\n

\"Allison <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it expands my love for reading and expands my understanding of the stories that I\u2019m reading when I do that in community,\u201d says Allison Ambili Kumar, who coordinates book crawls across L.A. <\/p>\n

(Genaro Molina \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

This led Kumar to launch a book crawl, inspired by her reading of \u201cThe Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters\u201d by Priya Parker<\/a>. In Kumar\u2019s book crawls, a traveling party of literary buffs bookstore hop, usually visiting at least three in one L.A. area. The idea is that readers can connect in a casual, welcoming environment, all the while increasing visibility for independent bookstores. <\/p>\n

Kumar hosted her first book crawl in 2024 in Culver City and has since taken the event to Long Beach, Hollywood and Pasadena. Selected bookstores included legacy shops like Chevalier\u2019s Books and Vroman\u2019s as well as newer ventures like Village Well Books & Coffee and Bel Canto Books. (Book crawls are also a national trend beloved by many a TikToker<\/a>, with last April marking the first synchronized Global Book Crawl<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Some of Kumar\u2019s favorite parts of the events are the \u201cbook hauls,\u201d when, after each stop or at the end of the day, participants share what they picked up, show-and-tell style.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely think there\u2019s a heightened joy in sharing what we love about the stories we love, and it also allows us a deeper level of understanding, given that you and I could read the same book and love it, hate it, feel differently about it, have different things that resonated with us from it,\u201d Kumar said.<\/p>\n

While Kumar\u2019s book crawls on average draw about 20 attendees each, she said the community that\u2019s formed around them is much larger.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of our walkers are coming every month, regardless of who the author is,\u201d says the Preoccupied Walking Book Club co-host Morgan Messing. <\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cEvents are wonderful,\u201d she said, \u201cbut it\u2019s also taken on a life of its own, where people who\u2019ve met on the book crawls are sharing a hotel room together for a romance conference this weekend, and we have our group chat, where people ask if anyone\u2019s going to events at Village Well or the Ripped Bodice, so they can sit together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danielle Dutta, who attended Kumar\u2019s first book crawl in Culver City, began multiple friendships that way: messaging mutual social media connections about whether they were attending an upcoming book event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, how else do you make friends as an adult?\u201d Dutta said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

The Walking Book Club<\/p>\n

Samantha Dockser and Morgan Messing of the Preoccupied launched their literary platform in 2024 to provide a centralized resource for book lovers and authors to keep track of all the \u201cbookish\u201d<\/a> events, as they call them, happening around L.A.<\/p>\n

The duo started their monthly event as an audiobook walking club \u2014 a structure which has seen success<\/a> in other L.A. locales \u2014 but quickly realized their attendees were too invested in chatting with their fellow book lovers to maintain the imposed quiet. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were trying to think of a structure for an event that would be a low lift for an author and also encourage potential new readers of an author to join,\u201d Dockser explained. With a casual setting and minimal enforced structure, the walking book club format felt right.<\/p>\n

\"Morgan <\/p>\n

Messing, left, and Samantha Dockser, right, interview author Ali Rosen before January\u2019s Walking Book Club. <\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Messing said she sees the reading community as \u201cage-blind,\u201d and the club\u2019s attendance reflects that. Still, many regulars fall in the Gen Z to millennial range. <\/p>\n

\u201cI 100% agree that the strongest voices in shaping what the book space looks like are people that are in their 20s currently or were when TikTok popped off in 2020,\u201d Dockser said, at least when it comes to fiction.<\/p>\n

To that demographic, self-identifying as a reader is about more than \u201cthe literal act of reading a book,\u201d she said. It means you see book-buying as a hobby, frequent book events and share a social circle with other readers.<\/p>\n

Ironically, those most invested in the in-person elements of the reading hobby often had their first exposure to the book community online.<\/p>\n

Early in the reign of social media, Messing said, there was much fearmongering about how these digital platforms spelled the death of reading.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s honestly beautiful the way that TikTok and Instagram book spaces have taken something that people felt shy about and made it a space where they feel comfortable being themselves and connecting with other people,\u201d Dockser says. <\/p>\n

(Carlin Stiehl \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually done just the opposite,\u201d the co-founder said. \u201cIt\u2019s given readers community and introduced non-readers to books and even brought people to physical bookstores because people want to post their books on their social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

L.A.-based author Joss Richard, who promoted her swoony second-chance romance \u201cIt\u2019s Different This Time\u201d with the Preoccupied\u2019s Walking Book Club in October, said events like Dockser and Messing\u2019s are great for reader engagement and bring a welcome dose of fun. And while it can be tricky to navigate these more atypical formats, especially ones that involve parading down local streets with a swarm of buzzing fans at your back, Richard said most attendees of the Preoccupied\u2019s club knew the drill. <\/p>\n

\u201cRarely is it anyone\u2019s first time going to one of those things,\u201d the author said. That\u2019s especially true of romance readers, who are generally regarded as the social butterflies of the book community. <\/p>\n

Richard is sure to see many book event frequenters when she speaks on a romance panel<\/a> at the L.A. Times Festival of Books April 18<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The silent reading party<\/p>\n

The first meeting of Martha Esquivias\u2019 reading club LB Bookworms consisted of the club founder and one of her friends casually reading together at a coffee shop. In the months that followed, Esquivias\u2019 pet project grew into a series of what she called \u201creading picnics.\u201d She and a few others would read outside in a format she credited to the international Silent Book Club<\/a>, which has several chapters across L.A.<\/p>\n

\"Martha <\/p>\n

Martha Esquivias of LB Bookworms regularly co-hosts silent reading parties in collaboration with Cool Cat Collective in Long Beach. <\/p>\n

(Juliana Yamada \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Esquivias liked that the structure diverted from that of a traditional book club, which requires significant commitment and coordination.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this option, it feels like it\u2019s less pressure and more \u2018come and go,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Coming of age during the social media boom, Esquivias said she always felt like she wasted her childhood on screens when she should have been playing outside or exploring hobbies. In many ways, plugging into the literary community and falling in love with reading again have healed that sense of loss. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the pandemic, there\u2019s been huge talk about finding third spaces or community spaces. I think people crave that more,\u201d she said, adding that she\u2019s proud LB Bookworms has provided that to so many people. <\/p>\n

\"Sunny's <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why I started this bookstore: I love community. I want to create a space where people connect with each other,\u201d Sunny\u2019s Bookshop owner Sanaz Tamjidi said. <\/p>\n

(Malia Mendez \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Sanaz Tamjidi, owner of Sunny\u2019s Bookshop in Tarzana, last year hosted a silent reading event in collaboration with the L.A. chapter of \u201creading party\u201d organizer Reading Rhythms. <\/p>\n

Tamjidi, a self-proclaimed \u201czillennial,\u201d said her bookstore\u2019s events are popular among younger customers, who are increasingly seeking out social gatherings that don\u2019t involve drinking<\/a> or partying. <\/p>\n

When Tamjidi told some older customers about the silent reading party, she said they were perplexed, asking, \u201cWait, so they would come and sit with each other, not talk, but just read silently?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were like, \u2018Times have changed,\u2019\u201d Tamjidi said, \u201cand that\u2019s the beauty of it.\u201d <\/p>\n