What we’re about
Book lovers come together to share the books we love where they are set. Like to read? Like to explore? You’ve found your people! We are a community of spirited readers who discuss books over paired adventures! We’re not your normal book club! 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
We can’t let October go by without Dracula! Join Roberta in a Gothic Victorian Mansion to watch the one man performance of Dracula and then discuss the book and play with the actor himself! This 70-minute solo adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic tale of terror.
Unlike other adaptations, this play uses only the novel’s original text of diary entries, letters, and newspaper articles to tell one of the Victorian era’s most frightening tales. And what a bonus - it all takes place in Philadelphia’s only authentically restored Victorian house museum!
STAGE: Stoker’s Dracula
Show time: 2pm
Run time: 70 minutes
Cost: $30 (includes show and discussion with actor)
Where: Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion (Germantown)
Getting there: There is street parking and it’s a short walk from the regional rail Tulpehocken station in Germantown.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a 70-minute solo adaptation of the 1897 classic tale of terror. Unlike other adaptations, this play uses only the novel’s original text of diary entries, letters, and newspaper articles to tell one of the Victorian era’s most frightening tales. Actor/Director Steven Bray brings this Gothic take to chilling life in the authentic setting of a Victorian parlor.
After the show, the actor and Roberta will lead us in a discussion of the book and play!
🧛FEE: $30
HOW TO PAY:
Use this link. Choose the pricing for Mansion members. We get to use their discount!
STORY:Dracula by Bram Stoker
Genre: Horror, Fiction
When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the 'Master' and his imminent arrival.
Available free as an ebook on Project Gutenberg or even better, try your local library!
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- NOVEL TOUR: Discuss “The Dutch House” & Tour Grumblethorpe Historic MansionGrumblethorpe Museum and Garden, Philadelphia, PA$11.00
The setting of Ann Patchett's exquisite novel is a 1920's mansion named the Dutch House, located on a quiet street lined with linden trees in Elkins Park on the outskirts of Philadelphia. While this Dutch house exists only in fiction, we will visit a real historic mansion right here in our backyard. Join Diana and Audrey at Grumblethorpe in Germantown for a private tour of the house, built in 1744. After the tour, we'll enjoy a BYO picnic lunch as we discuss the book in the garden.
FEE: $11. Spots are filled first pay, first goes. LIMIT: 20
HOW TO PAY: Use Friends and Family! Do not use the business option because it charges a fee (which you will need to cover). Please note the event name or date on your payment. If your payment name is different than your Meetup name, please make sure you note your Meetup name.
Venmo - @audrey-Heller1 (phone ends in 4478)
PayPal - https://www.paypal.me/AudreyBugNOVEL: The Dutch House: A Novel, by Ann Patchett
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize | New York Times Bestseller | A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick (audiobook read by Tom Hanks)
A richly moving story that explores the indelible bond between two siblings, the house of their childhood, and a past that will not let them go. The Dutch House is the story of a paradise lost, a tour de force that digs deeply into questions of inheritance, love and forgiveness, of how we want to see ourselves and of who we really are.At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy builds a real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves.
The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakeable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures.
Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.
TOUR: Grumblethorpe, A Historic House, part of the Colonial Germantown Historic District.
Where: 5267 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19144
Tour Start Time: 11:00 AM. Guided tours generally last 60 minutes for the house and additional time in the garden. Please arrive by 10:45am so we can start the tour promptly at 11am.
Parking: There are a few available parking spots on site and street parking is generally available.German immigrant John Wister (Johannes Wüster, 1705-1789) built this house in 1744 as a country home outside of Philadelphia. Constructed of local Wissahickon schist and oak timbers hewn from Wister’s woods, the house is a prime example of Germantown architecture of the period. The property included a farm, gardens, and orchards with fruit trees to supplement John’s wine importing business.
Fun fact: The wisteria plant is named after the Wister family, and a towering gingko tree that stands over the property is the oldest in North America.
This house was taken over by the British and used as one of its headquarters during the Battle of Germantown in October 1777. Grumblethorpe’s living room floor still shows the blood stain where British General Agnew died from his battle wounds.
Since acquiring the building in 1941, PhilaLandmarks has restored and furnished the house and cultivated the gardens to reflect the interests and tastes of various generations of Wisters.
Lunch: Bring your own picnic. After our tour, we'll discuss the book in the garden.
Happy Reading!
- STAGE & STORY: Dracula - performed in a Gothic Victorian Mansion!Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion, Philadelphia, PA
We can’t let October go by without Dracula! Join Roberta in a Gothic Victorian Mansion to watch the one man performance of Dracula and then discuss the book and play with the actor himself! This 70-minute solo adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic tale of terror.
Unlike other adaptations, this play uses only the novel’s original text of diary entries, letters, and newspaper articles to tell one of the Victorian era’s most frightening tales. And what a bonus - it all takes place in Philadelphia’s only authentically restored Victorian house museum!
STAGE: Stoker’s Dracula
Show time: 2pm
Run time: 70 minutes
Cost: $30 (includes show and discussion with actor)
Where: Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion (Germantown)
Getting there: There is street parking and it’s a short walk from the regional rail Tulpehocken station in Germantown.Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a 70-minute solo adaptation of the 1897 classic tale of terror. Unlike other adaptations, this play uses only the novel’s original text of diary entries, letters, and newspaper articles to tell one of the Victorian era’s most frightening tales. Actor/Director Steven Bray brings this Gothic take to chilling life in the authentic setting of a Victorian parlor.
After the show, the actor and Roberta will lead us in a discussion of the book and play!
🧛FEE: $30
HOW TO PAY:
Use this link. Choose the pricing for Mansion members. We get to use their discount!STORY:Dracula by Bram Stoker
Genre: Horror, FictionWhen Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the 'Master' and his imminent arrival.
Available free as an ebook on Project Gutenberg or even better, try your local library!
- READ & TOUR: "All the Beauty in the World" and Tour the Barnes MuseumBarnes Museum, Philadelphia, PA$37.00
Join Audrey at the Barnes for a Book Club Members Only "Highlights Tour" and then lunch for a captivating Book Club discussion of the Nonfiction November Member Choice Winner - All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Art and Me by Patrick Bringley. While Bringley’s memoir is set in the iconic Met, The Barnes is a perfect local pairing because, at its core, the book isn’t just about a place—it’s about the people who walk through the galleries, the quiet dedication of the guards, and the universal experience of finding connection through art.
FEE: $37 (I was able to get a group discount from the normal $60!) Includes access to continue to tour the museum after the tour. Lunch is pay on your own.
HOW TO PAY: Use Friends and Family! Do not use the business option because it charges a fee. Please note the event name or date on your payment.
Venmo - @audrey-Heller1 (phone ends in 4478)
PayPal - https://www.paypal.me/AudreyBug
-----
10:00 am TOUR: Museum Highlights Tour
Specially trained docents lead this illuminating tour of the Barnes collection, focusing on its history and origins, major paintings, and the theory behind Dr. Albert Barnes's unique display of works. This 60-minute tour is perfect for first-time visitors as well as returning guests who want to know more about the collection.Philadelphia art collector Albert C. Barnes (1872–1951) chartered the Barnes in 1922 to teach people from all walks of life how to look at art. Over three decades, he collected some of the world’s most important impressionist, post-impressionist, and modern paintings, including works by Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso. He displayed them alongside African masks, native American jewelry, Greek antiquities, and decorative metalwork.
After the tour, we'll have about an hour to continue to tour the museum on our own and then lunch! Mmmmm.
LUNCH: The Garden Restaurant at the Barnes
Menu: Garden fareOur lunch reservation is limited to the first 14 people to respond Yes to lunch when you RSVP.
📚 BOOK: *All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Art and Me *by Patrick Bringley
Genre: Nonfiction
Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny. They’re the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a watchful eye on the two million square foot treasure house. Caught up in his glamorous fledgling career at The New Yorker, Patrick Bringley never thought he’d be one of them. Then his older brother was diagnosed with fatal cancer and he found himself needing to escape the mundane clamor of daily life. So he quit The New Yorker and sought solace in the most beautiful place he knew.To his surprise and the reader’s delight, this temporary refuge becomes Bringley’s home away from home for a decade. We follow him as he guards delicate treasures from Egypt to Rome, strolls the labyrinths beneath the galleries, wears out nine pairs of company shoes, and marvels at the beautiful works in his care. Bringley enters the museum as a ghost, silent and almost invisible, but soon finds his voice and his tribe: the artworks and their creators and the lively subculture of museum guards—a gorgeous mosaic of artists, musicians, blue-collar stalwarts, immigrants, cutups, and dreamers. As his bonds with his colleagues and the art grow, he comes to understand how fortunate he is to be walled off in this little world, and how much it resembles the best aspects of the larger world to which he gradually, gratefully returns.
In the tradition of classic workplace memoirs like Lab Girl and Working Stiff, All The Beauty in the World is a surprising, inspiring portrait of a great museum, its hidden treasures, and the people who make it tick, by one of its most intimate observers.
Happy Reading!
AudreyHousekeeping!
Here are the Club’s Basic Rules and Liability Release. Read them please because by signing up you agree to them. :)
