Move on dating applications: Gen Z now has meetings at Book Club

Are book clubs the new appointment app? Almost one in four members of the Book Club had a meeting in their reading group, according to a new survey.

The North 2,000 -Americans who attend a book club found that a surprisingly high number (23%) has met someone who is romantically interested in their club.

Interestingly, men were more likely to report to have fulfilled a romantic interest in a reading group compared to women (38% against 16%).

The study by Talker Research and commissioned by Thriftbooks, the study found that 44% of respondents would prefer to meet a romantic partner in their book club instead of an appointment application.

And of all generations, the X (45%) and the Z (47%) gene were more likely to opt for a book club that are in an appointment application.

However, more than half of the members of the Book Club (56%) confessed that they like to keep their members of the book club a secret of others in their lives, and men are significantly more likely to feel so compared to women (69%vs 48%).

Investigating the amount of reading that is achieved, the study found that members of the book club read 10 books, on average, last year.

Twenty-eight percent of the respondents said that they found it difficult to meet others with similar literary taste before joining a book club.

And the main reasons for respondents to join reading groups, according to the study, were to read new books (68%), socialize (63%) and make new friends (59%), with Z Z and Millennials (both 61%) who were more likely to join -Book clubs in order to forge friendships, compared to older generations.

Seeing where they are, 42% of book clubs meet face -to -face, 11% meet online and 43% meet through a combination of face -to -face and online meetings.

Almost all respondents (93%) agreed that the meeting with a reading group has been therapeutic and 98% said it has improved their mental health.

“Not only reading groups have a significant impact on the life and romantic friendships of the readers, they are also very beneficial to the mental health of the books of the book club,” said Barbara Hagen, Thriftbooks’ Vice President. “It is incredible to see that readers join reading groups for literary aspect, as well as social and well -being benefits.”

According to the results of the survey, the preferred genus of gene Z to read with its book clubs is romance (44%), while Millennials (42%), GEN X (45%) and Baby Boomers (54%) enjoy more mystery books.

When asked what they are currently reading with their group, the quoted popular books include “fourth wing”, “Gone with the Wind”, the Harry Potter series, “The Book Thief”, “The Midnight Library” and “The outsiders”.

And discovering their favorite reading of the group of all time, the popular titles listed were “Little Women”, “Pride and Prejudice”, “The Help” and “To Kill a Mockingbird”.

Most readers (63%) said that social networks have influenced them to read more last year, and 57% follow the influential of books on social platforms.

Analyzing where they are more active on social networks, Z -gene respondents spend more time interacting in Tiktok’s book communities (60%), while millennials (62%), gene X (64%) and Baby Boomers (54%) are more active on Facebook.

“In the survey, we found that readers are in person, online, in hybrid environments in person and online and even in social forums. They are also reading a diverse extension of literature from recently published titles to classics and making friends and romantic connections along the way,” said Hagen. “If you are curious or you are interested in joining a book club, we encourage you to do it. There is a group for everyone.”

The popular favorite book club reads

• “Small Women”
• “Pride and prejudice”
• “Help”
• “To kill a mockingbird”
• “The nightingale”
• “The silent patient”
• “Women”
• “Where do the Crawdads sing”
• “A child said”
• “Ends with us”
• “Moby Dick”
• “Milk and honey”

Survey Methodology:

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 -Americans in book clubs; The survey was commissioned by Prosperity books and administered and made online by Talker Research between April 17 and 24, 2025.