
What we’re about
Join us for adventures in reading & real life! We are a community of readers who discuss books over paired outings. Like to explore? Like to read? You’ve found your people! Join us here in-person and for online discussions wherever you are on the socials! FB, Insta, TikTok, Website
Newsletter/FB group: Meetup isn’t great at sending out notifications, so to stay up to date with the latest book and activity pairings, sign up for the newsletter at https://mailchi.mp/fc5e0725650d/thenoveltourist and join the community on our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ I also post regularly on books and book pairings on Instagram via @thenoveltourist
What the Club Will Do for You
The purpose of all NTBC events is to give you the opportunity to socialize with likeminded readers who are life long learners and love to try new experiences. If your goal is read more books, do more stuff and meet more friends, being part of NTBC can be a life-changing experience!
What You Can Do for the Club
Bring your fun-loving, healthy attitude. Be committed to reading, showing up when promised, and being respectful of other members. We require that your profile includes a clear picture of yourself so others can identify you at our events.
Terms and Conditions
By joining the Novel Tourist Book Club or signing up for or attending any event offered by the Novel Tourist Book Club, you agree to the following terms and conditions:
- Readers please: NTBC is, first and foremost, a book club. We do a lot of amazing activities tied to the books. There are lots of Meetup groups that also do these fun activities. So, if you don’t like to read or don’t plan to read, we are sure there is another group out there that is more suited to your interests. Now, that said, it doesn’t mean you have to read the book or finish the book every time. Sometimes, you try and the book just doesn’t resonate with you. That’s okay! Come and tell us how much you didn’t like it! All we ask is that you try.
- No Guests: Sadness, we know! We are all about the more the merrier, but there must be a limit to the number of attendees at any one event. Events fill up really fast and so unless the event allows you to add a guest (which will be very rare) your guest must create a Meetup account and rsvp for themselves as a member. Yay new members!
- Liability Waiver: By signing up for an event, all members take full responsibility for their own actions and agree to adhere to the following terms and conditions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10ZE-yUJEcHUnXF_A8MUsfxWhEmrKxZEcojrHh8FjQzc/edit; and further agree to hold harmless the Novel Tourists Book Club organizers and members of this Meetup book club from any and all claims and liability in case of possible injuries as stated in Paragraph 6 of the Meetup Terms of Service Agreement ( https://help.meetup.com/hc/en-us/articles/360027447252-Terms-of-Service#h_9e385395-a405-4361-8afc-854a4f586c82 ). When attending an event, you acknowledge that you are doing this at your own risk.
- Event Payments:
- Name: If your name on your Meetup profile is different than your name on your payment profile (PayPal, Venmo), please provide your meetup name when you make your payment;
- Include Date or Event Title: Please include the date of the event or an indication of the event title (e.g. if we are going to a restaurant put the name of the restaurant not just “restaurant” or “book club.”)
- Be Open-minded, Kind and Courteous: We can’t imagine anyone who loves to read being anything but open-minded, kind and courteous. However, I also know we bibliophiles can have some pretty strong opinions about books! Whether you agree with someone or not, no doubt you came here for a welcoming environment. Healthy debates are natural, but kindness is required.
- No bullies: Personal attacks of any kind are not allowed. Period. I have zero tolerance for any bullying, degrading comments about another member’s race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender or identity. We are an open and inclusive community and to keep it that way a$$holes will be removed from the group.
- Photos/Videos: Joining the group and attending an event means you’re a-okay with being photographed/video recorded during events. We always takes pics: for the memories and for promotion of future events and NTBC.
- Communication settings: This is just helpful guidance. Events fill up really fast. Make sure your settings are set to maximize communication: Click on your profile pic in Meetup, click Settings, under General select Email Updates, scroll down and find The Novel Tourists Book Club under “Updates about your Group”, click Edit next to The Novel Tourists Book Club and then make your choices. I suggest checking “New Event Announcements,” “Changes to Event Time or Locations,” “My RSVP is confirmed,” and, most importantly: "Announcements to Members About the Group" and “Event updates from Organizer.” Also, you may want to download the Meetup app.
- Carpooling: It’s great for the planet! However, any arrangements are between you and the person driving. The Novel Tourists Book Club organizers and hosts do not provide, endorse, sponsor or take responsibility for any carpool arrangements pertaining to any event. Please use your good judgment when deciding whether or not to carpool with other participants of the book club event you are attending.
- Refund Policy:
- Events with a fee of less than $5: No refunds, even if someone takes your spot. The events fill fast and the only way to really try to make sure that those who are truly interested and able to come get a seat, is a nominal fee. This fee is offered to the event host to pay for their entrance/meal/etc as a way of saying thank you for your time and for putting this together for us.
- Events with a fee greater than $5: The general policy is if the Organizer/Host can get their money back, you’ll get your money back - if you timely cancelled. Once an event location has been paid, however, many times they won’t issue a refund. If they don’t refund us, we can’t refund you regardless of how far in advance you cancelled. That said, sometimes a refund can be issued IF you cancel at least a week in advance AND someone takes your spot. If you want to request a refund, message Audrey via Meetup to discuss. Please note, if you cancel the day before or the day of an event, there are refunds - regardless of the reason and regardless if someone takes your spot.
- If you do not agree to the above terms and conditions, do not sign up for the club. There is probably a different club out there that will better meet your needs.
Happy reading and adventuring!
- Audrey
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Find your next literary 📚 adventure! New Member Meet & Greet (online) 🥳Link visible for attendees
Books? Adventure? Friends? Yes! The Novel Tourist Book Club is a literary community whose 🧭 adventures are inspired by books!📚
If you’re new (or just haven’t joined an event yet), we’d love to meet you!
This relaxed online get-together is your chance to meet fellow book lovers, hear about how the club works, and get a sneak peek at what’s coming up.
I’ll put the zoom link up on the day of the event.
🧑💻In the meantime, get inspired on our social:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenoveltourist
Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/thenoveltouristWebsite: https://thenoveltourist.com/
Audrey
- Relax and Read (like Silent book club) at Parks on Tap - Columbus Square ParkColumbus Square Park, Philadelphia, PA
Reading with other book lovers? Yes!! Join Audrey for another chapter of the 2025 Relax & Read series: Columbus Square Park. Throughout the Summer and Fall we'll gather at Parks on Tap locations to read together and socialize while also supporting and getting to know Philly's beautiful parks.
Here's how it works:
- 🤫 First hour (6:00-6:45ish): Grab your book and read silently
- 🗣️After that - Socialize (or keep reading) - it's up to you!
DETAILS:
We’ll start with silent reading 🙊for the first 45 mins to an hour allowing everyone to delve into their own book. After that we can spend time socializing and talking about what we are reading. 📚Pop by whenever you can, stay as short or long as you’d like
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🎉**Want more ideas for bookish fun? **Join the Novel Tourist online community:
📸Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/thenoveltourist/
🌟Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheNovelTourist
——-🌳ABOUT THIS PARK: Columbus Square Park
Columbus Square is a vibrant community gathering place located between 12th and 13th Streets and Wharton and Reed streets in the Passyunk Square neighborhood of South Philadelphia.
Columbus Square has something for everyone. From our rose garden to our nature walk encircling the park, Columbus Square will delight the senses of any nature enthusiast. An oasis from the hustle and bustle of urban living, Columbus Square is a unique community space which is ever evolving.
FIND IT ON GOOGLE MAPS HERE
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION:
Accessible via SEPTA Broad Street Line at Ellsworth Federal Station
PARKING:
Street parking available around the park. Municipal Parking Lot is also available on 1337 A 12th St.
WEBSITE: HTTP://MYCOLUMBUSSQUARE.ORG
🍺ABOUT PARKS ON TAP
Parks on Tap is a partnership between Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and FCM Hospitality, Parks on Tap was created to be a traveling beer garden throughout the city's various, beautiful parks all summer long. Proceeds from Parks on Tap benefit the Fairmount Park Conservancy.Each park and location is collectively selected as a way to highlight and enhance the offerings that Philadelphia city parks provide. It aims for a simple aesthetic: well-kept outdoor spaces where friends and families can meet up to enjoy food, drinks, and fun in a natural green space. A portion of all proceeds benefits each park.
🍺Is purchase of alcohol required?
Nope! I picked Parks on Tap locations because there will always be seating, shade, food trucks and bathrooms. Free to enter and purchase of alcohol or food is not required. But, bring ID to enter.🍔Food and Drinks
Parks on Tap serves a variety of local craft beers, wine and cocktails, as well as non-alcoholic beverages such as water, lemonade and iced tea. A full food menu is available for purchase that highlights items made from locally sourced items and snacks.Seating: They provide chairs so no need to bring your own. But if you're vibe is more chillin' on a blanket, bring it!
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I can’t wait to Relax and Read with you!Here are the Club’s Basic Rules and Liability Release. You should read them because by signing up for an event you agree to them! 🙂
Happy reading!
Audrey-------------------
No need to read this part. It's just for Meetup's algorithm to help these events get seen. Grrr. We love to read books and do fun stuff to celebrate our hobbies and reading. We do many things that involve books and reading and book club. We are adventurous and like to seek out urban adventures and walking tours and like to silent read books and practice hobbies and socialize a lot! Book clubs are the best thing to meet new friends and make friends and socialize and explore for when you are new in town and want to meet people and socialize to talk about books and explore museums and other places.Philadelphia Book Cub; Book Club; Literary Adventures; Novels; Tours; Philly Book Club; silent reading
- July’s Member Choice Online 📚Book Club Book: “The Boxcar Librarian" 🚂Link visible for attendees
July’s book!!! The clear winner was The Boxcar Librarian as the July member choice book for the theme “Transportation.” Woot woot!
Inspired by true events, a thrilling Depression-era novel from the author of The Librarian of Burned Books about a woman’s quest to uncover a mystery surrounding a local librarian and the Boxcar Library—a converted mining train that brought books to isolated rural towns in Montana.
Our online discussion will be the last Monday of July at 7 PM! The event with zoom link will be posted soon!
Stay tuned for the paired inperson adventure!
This is our online book club discussion night (always the last Monday of each month). Zoom link will be posted on the day of the event.
❓Event Review Guidance:
Meetup reviews are now public. Did you love the event? Tell the world with a 5-star rating AND a comment!🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I love putting together fun literary adventures and your comments feed my soul. But, if you didn't like something, please don’t submit a negative review — instead, message me (Audrey) directly with your suggestions so we can improve the club together! Also, please remember, you’re reviewing the club experience, not the location. So, for instance, if we go to a play and you didn’t like it, don’t give the Meetup event a negative, it’s not my fault the play stunk. I can’t change what I can’t control.**NOVEL: The Boxcar Librarian by Brianna Labuskes
Genre: Historical Fiction
Transportation: TrainWhen Works Progress Administration (WPA) editor Millie Lang finds herself on the wrong end of a potential political scandal, she’s shipped off to Montana to work on the state’s American Guide Series—travel books intended to put the nation’s destitute writers to work.
Millie arrives to an eclectic staff claiming their missed deadlines are due to sabotage, possibly from the state’s powerful Copper Kings who don’t want their long and bloody history with union organizers aired for the rest of the country to read. But Millie begins to suspect that the answer might instead lie with the town’s mysterious librarian, Alice Monroe.
More than a decade earlier, Alice Monroe created the Boxcar Library in order to deliver books to isolated mining towns where men longed for entertainment and connection. Alice thought she found the perfect librarian to staff the train car in Colette Durand, a miner’s daughter with a shotgun and too many secrets behind her eyes.
Now, no one in Missoula will tell Millie why both Alice and Colette went out on the inaugural journey of the Boxcar Library, but only Alice returned.
The three women’s stories dramatically converge in the search to uncover what someone is so desperately trying to hide: what happened to Colette Durand.
Happy Reading!
Audrey-------------------The below is silly babble just for the algorithm - no need for book club members to read this!-------------------------------
Reading books everywhere including in Philadelphia and New Jersey and thecworkd’s neighborhoods is such a fun way to make new friends and be social with book loving book club members who like to read and explore urban areas and try new activities such as hiking, reading, craft, hobbies, museums and more! It's especially fun for a book club to go on outdoor and indoor adventures with all the book club friends who like to explore and try new hobbies and discuss books and be always