There is a particular kind of guilt that comes from looking at your phone and realizing you have not, in fact, chosen anything you’ve consumed that day. It has all simply algorithmically arrived: images, headlines, fragments of other people’s lives. I began to notice this sometime in February, in that late-winter stretch in Scotland where the sea looks like brushed steel and the days feel undecided. In these early months of Candlemas, St Andrews has a habit of feeling smaller and smaller, when the route from your flat to your classes to the library marks the borders of town. I would sit at my desk, ostensibly reading for my contemporary lit modules, and find that I had spent the last twenty minutes watching edits on TikTok.
It seemed, then, like a corrective to turn toward something analog. Instead of saying 2026 was my digital detox year and then redownloading Instagram every other week, I wanted to make getting off my phone an active decision. The alternative choice seemed obvious: books, but also an expansion of my social circle. This is how I ended up attending four book clubs in as many weeks, moving through the town in the evenings, carrying whichever novel was required like a kind of social passport.
Book Club 1: Topping & Company Booksellers – Book Salad
Held on the last Tuesday of every month, Book Salad is one of the many book clubs that Toppings organizes – it just so happened that this one fit into my schedule the best. So, on February 24th, I found myself climbing up the stairs to the top floor of Brew Co. to meet with the very first book club on my roster.
The club is usually held in the bookstore, but because of inventory, this month the group got extra close on two long benches with the group moderator at one end of the table and a friendly black lab at the other. I was very lucky to be squished on the same side as the dog, so throughout the evening I would get a wet nose to my hand and as many pets as were tolerated.
I, for one, am a great fan of pubs and think Brew Co. is one of the best St Andrews has to offer, but this was not a feeling mutually reciprocated by the rest of the group. Multiple apologies were offered, and a round of drinks at the store was greatly appreciated to help rectify the slightly dislocated feeling among the Book Salad regulars. Sipping away at our drinks (an Elderflower Cider for me, Cokes for most everyone else), we started discussing Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford.
What struck me most throughout all of this was the moderator, who asked questions that were neither too broad nor too precise, the kind that allow a conversation to unfold rather than forcing it into shape. He either knew the group very well or had a special knack for coaxing a conversation out of a crowd. Opinions on the book varied widely, which made for a discussion that felt alive in a way that polite agreement never quite achieves.
Other important details that I feel I must share include that the price of admission is £5, but it is fully redeemable against any book in the shop. I found that this gave the evening a subtle sense of investment. I was, in a way, already imagining my next purchase while discussing my last one. The group tended to skew older, mostly women, and they were the kind of people who seemed to have long ago established a rhythm to their reading lives.
Perfect for: people asleep by 9pm, anyone who takes long walks on the beach, and readers of “experimental” fiction peddled by celebrity book clubs
If that sounds like you, you can find information about future meetings here.
Book Club 2: University of St Andrews Book Club Soc
Shortly after reading week, when I had managed to read the remaining books for these excursions, I spent my Monday afternoon discussing Babel by R.F. Kuang with other members of the university’s student-run book club.
This was the smallest group, and perhaps because of that, the most sustained conversation. There is something about a small circle that encourages a kind of intensity. People speak longer, listen more closely, and disagreements linger in the air a bit longer than they might in a larger room. I’ll admit, the disagreement part was on me as I seemed the only person in attendance who was not completely spellbound by Kuang’s linguistic endeavor.
Additionally, there was a slight complication, once again personally, in the form of a fellow attendee with whom I had some political disagreements. The book itself, being deeply concerned with language, empire, and power, did not exactly smooth things over. Still, the tension never quite tipped into discomfort; instead, it manifested in glances exchanged between me and another attendee, a sort of quiet solidarity I appreciated.
While on the topic of the other attendees, I was surprised to find that over 50% of the room were postgrads like myself. However, as people ebbed and flowed in and out of the room, this didn’t tip the conversation in any particular direction. In fact, once again, the moderator did a nice job of asking guiding questions and getting the group to open up individually with introductions and rating the novel on a scale from 1-10.
Perfect for: anyone who reads before they go to bed, people who wear eyeliner and large sweaters, and someone whose go to cafe order is a London fog
If that sounds like you, you can find information about future meetings here.
Book Club 3: St Andrews Wine Company
The third book club, at the St Andrews Wine Company, took place under string lights, the shop arranged in a way that felt both intentional and slightly improvised. Empty wine boxes had been turned on their sides to serve as tables, holding an assortment of homemade snacks brought by the host and attendees. The book was Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart, which, as it turned out, no one felt particularly strongly about, but rather than dampening the evening, it seemed to free it.
Also at £5, the event includes a wine tasting and a discount on the featured wine pairing, and the tasting itself became the anchor of the evening. This was the least structured of the clubs; there were no guiding questions, no formal moderation. People spoke when they felt like it, conversations overlapped, and the discussion of the book gradually gave way to discussion of other books, then other things entirely.
It was, in a way, the most social of the four. The group was a mix of ages, and there was a sense that many of them knew each other already, or at least had been attending long enough to have established a kind of familiarity. Luckily, I arrived just after and thus sat next to a very friendly woman who was more than happy to introduce and explain the established dynamics of the other members. After the book discussion, the host led us through four or five wines (it’s hard to keep track after having to chug more than one glass because I got lost in conversation in the time meant to sip politely), and we played a price guessing game with each. It might have been the wine, but I would rather attribute my enjoyment and rapid purchase of April’s meeting to the great amount of fun I had briefly discussing the book and meeting the group of people I think would make a great cast of a sitcom.
Perfect for: fans of The Price is Right, people who have been told they’re a pleasure to have in class, anyone who asks booksellers for recommendations, and individuals who are perhaps looking for an intellectually stimulating Sinners pre
If that sounds like you, you can find information about future meetings here.
Book Club 4: Bubble Bookclub
The final club I attended was not originally on the docket for this article. However, the launch of Bubble Bookclub just so happened to line up perfectly with a free evening in an otherwise jam-packed deadline month for me, so I had to jump on the chance to get out of the house and off my computer.
The inaugural meeting of this club was very considerately decided by group vote, making it perfect for people who don’t have regular days off every month. During it we discussed Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, a choice that almost guarantees a certain depth of discussion. The group was younger (second years primarily) and the atmosphere at first felt tentative, as though everyone was waiting to see what kind of gathering this would shape up to be.
It took a little time, but by the end, the awkwardness had softened into something warmer. The discussion, while at times feeling a bit like a seminar, was guided by a moderator who made a clear effort to connect with each point raised, to draw people in rather than simply move on. There was a sincerity to it, a willingness to engage with the book’s emotional weight without irony.
Perfect for: girls who put jalapenos in their white wine, anyone who owns a large collection of accessories, and fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid
If that sounds like you, you can find information about future meetings here.
Reading Wrap Up
While, for the time being, I will only be attending the St Andrews Wine Company book club again (this experiment made me realize why I don’t, in fact, get much pleasure reading done alongside my demanding coursework), it does seem like every person in St Andrews will be able to find their niche in any one of these. If you, like me, find yourself wanting to try any of these out, I urge you to do so.
If you are worried about the cost of entry of this activity (while books here are not as expensive as they are back in the States, it can get a little tight on a student budget), I recommend getting a library card from the St Andrews Public Library. The librarians were more than helpful when I came in looking to acquire these reads and more.