At this point, the outdoor temps are telling us to stay inside until further notice. That’s why book clubs make great summer sense. And while reading has lost ground nationally—according to the National Endowment for the Arts, 48.5 percent of U.S. adults said they had read at least one book in the previous year in 2022, down from 54.6 percent in 2012—it remains one of the healthier ways to hole up. Research has linked book reading with benefits including lower stress, strengthened brain connectivity, expanded vocabulary and improved focus. So stay cool and get lost in a story that you can share with other book lovers. Here are some local book clubs for readers of all interests.

Bookstore1’s Banned Book Club

For readers who believe a controversial (by today’s standards) book is a good place to start, this club keeps the conversation lively with a list of banned books to devour. Led by programming director Bryn Durgin, the club meets roughly once a month at the store’s downtown Sarasota location, with a list that includes Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon, John Green’s Looking for Alaska, Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and more. PEN America found more than 4,500 instances of book bans in Florida during the 2023–24 school year, the highest total in the country, so it will be a long time before this club runs out of books to read. Bookstore1 also has other book clubs to choose from and a full roster of programming and events for writers, poets and readers. Bookstore1, 117 S. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota, sarasotabooks.com 

Sarasota County Libraries

Sarasota County Libraries has quietly built one of the more expansive free book-clubbing ecosystems around, and it doesn’t confine the idea to one circle of people discussing the same novel once a month. Across the library system’s 11 physical locations, you’ll find traditional book clubs, cookbook discussions, anime and comic gatherings, book swaps, coffee club meetups, tarot literacy sessions for teens and young adults, and even programs that let children read with dogs. Some require registration, some don’t, but the larger point is the same: the programming is frequent, varied and open to all kinds of readers at all kinds of ages. You don’t need a library card to take part, but membership opens the door to loads of other library perks. sarasotacountylibraries.org 

Sarasota-Bradenton Silent Book Club

BYOB (bring your own book) to the Sarasota Bradenton Silent Book Club. This club offers a looser, lower-pressure alternative to the standard everyone-reads-the-same-thing model. Readers bring their own book, gather at a public venue, settle in for an hour of silent reading and then stick around to talk about their book—or whatever else comes to mind. The club is free and meets twice a month, once on a weekend and once on a weekday evening at a public, casual venue like Donato’s Pizza or Bob Evans restaurant. facebook.com/groups/sbsbc941

Thrillers by the Book Club (SRQ Chapter)

For readers who like their fiction with a body count, the Sarasota chapter of this club keeps things focused on suspense. The group, which has 84 members and meets on weekends, reads one whodunnit each month and meets at local spots to talk twists, theories and all things thrilling. The club’s latest read is My Husband’s Next Door by K.L. Slater, with past picks including Look Closer by David Ellis, Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea, We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer and Our Last Resort by Clémence Michallon. Follow @thrillersbythebookclub; request to join at bookclubs.com/join-a-book-club/club/thrillers-by-the-book-club-srq-chapter-3 

Solar Punk Book Club

For readers who prefer sci-fi with optimism instead of dystopian despair, Solar Punk Book Club operates on its own cosmic wavelength. The 22-member group meets monthly, with locations changing from meetup to meetup; recent gatherings have taken place at Fogartyville, Phillippi Crest Club, Selby Library, The Bay Park and private homes. Its reading list ranges from New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson to The Overstory by Richard Powers. And the conversation goes well beyond plot. Meetings branch into gardening, local food systems, biomimicry, community values and how people might live together in a less extractive future, making the club feel like something bigger than a standard book discussion. Sign up by simply showing up. Location and date are on the website. solarpunkbookclub.com

Manatee County Libraries

Across branches in Bradenton, Palmetto, Lakewood Ranch, Anna Maria Island and South Manatee, plus offsite meetups at places like Oak & Stone in downtown Bradenton and Good Liquid Brewing in Parrish, Manatee County Libraries’ book clubs run from morning into evening and reach just about every kind of reader. There are traditional adult discussion groups, mystery-specific gatherings like Murder By the Book to the globally minded Read Around the Globe Book Club. At the same time, the library system is building readers from the ground up, with My First Book Club for toddlers and several groups for tweens and other young readers. Some clubs meet monthly, some weekly, some offer both afternoon and evening sessions, and some even offer an online option alongside in-person attendance, like the Palmetto Friends of the Library Book Club. mymanatee.org

The DIY Bookclub

Want to lead your own club? Sarasota County Libraries offers Book Club Kits for people to create their own reading group. Each kit—which can be checked out for eight weeks—comes with 10 copies of the same title, plus an author biography, discussion questions and suggested further reading, which takes a good chunk of the planning out of the process. The kits are available for adults, teens and children and can be checked out for eight weeks. sarasotacountylibraries.org/services/book-club-kits.