The Book Beaches women’s book club makes community connections beyond the page
By JESSICA SHACKLETON
The women gathered on blankets in Kew Gardens are chatting away. The discussion is animated because the women are members of a local book club called The Book Beaches.
As soon as everyone arrived, they immediately jumped into talking about this month’s pick, North Woods by Daniel Mason, which they described as a “supernatural drama”.
The Book Beaches have a stellar record so far of actually completing the book of the month, and they come prepared to discuss it, along with everything else they need to catch up on.
Alexandria Goodall started the club in 2025 by posting in the Beaches Facebook group and putting up flyers.
That’s how Jennifer Bondy learned about it. “I saw the poster on the board in front of the library. I was walking my dog, and I had just moved to the area a few months prior, and I was thinking it would be really great to connect somehow with people in the area. I love reading, and I saw ‘book club’, and it was perfect.”
Goodall said there were many people interested.
“Within 24 hours, I had 20 people; I had to say I can’t accept everyone,” she said. “I love to read, and so, yeah, I did a female book club.”
The club currently has about 10 members, and five core members. Along with Goodall and Bondy, the assembled group includes Kirthika Rege, Angela Ferreira, Jaclyn Hearnden, and visitor Hayley Goodall, Alexandria’s sister.
When the weather is warm, they meet at Kew Gardens, and when it’s cold, they usually go to Ferreira’s place. They have also met at the heated tent at Beaches & Cream on the Boardwalk.
“I think it’s good for mental health to make new friends. It’s hard to make friends when you’re older when you’re not in a school environment,” said Ferreira. “We became so isolated with the pandemic, so it’s even more important to get people out.”
Anyone can read, and thanks to the library being part of a book club doesn’t even have to cost anything.
“The intention is to show up. We decided to show up whether we read it or not,” said Rege.
“Because we’re talking books and reading and ideas, it adds a different depth to the conversation, so I think it makes the connection we have with each other more interesting,” said Bondy.
By chance, a few of the members showed up with their matching t-shirts that they had made for the book crawl they went on to mark their first anniversary. They visited The Great Escape on Kingston Road, Book City on Queen Street, Queen Books in Leslieville, and Great Hall Bookshop on Parliament Street.
“We love the library, but I love these independent bookstores, but if you don’t buy books from them, they’re not going to survive,” said Ferreira. “So that’s why we decided to do a book crawl and buy a book, or two or three, from every bookstore.”
Afterwards, they went to a pub.
“Instead of doing a pub crawl where we go and get drunk, we got drunk on books,” said Bondy.
Like a concert tee, the T-shirts feature a list of the books they’ve read and when they read them.
So far they have read The Salt Path by Raynor Winn, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager, Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, Husbands & Lovers by Beatriz Williams, Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley, The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, Every Summer After by Carley Fortune, and The Rose Code by Kate Quinn.
Their catalogue features sci-fi, thrillers, romance, and historical fiction. When they started, they selected books using a paper system, but that system had some flaws.
“We had a problem because we kept picking the same types of books. Romance, lake, so many lake books,” said Hearnden. “It’s still a mystery to me why we picked so many lake romances.”
“Now, we do a poll on WhatsApp, so we’ll pick a theme, and everyone will put a book in, and we’ll vote off of that,” said Goodall.
They’re also talking about having each member get a chance to choose a book for the group.
“We’re very different, too. The types of books that we like are very different, and that’s ok, and we still get along. We learn from each other,” said Ferreira.
Along with reading and discussing the books they read, The Book Beaches also connect beyond the pages. They had a Christmas party and book exchange and a screening of Remarkably Bright Creatures on Netflix. For their next activity, they plan to hit up the newly opened Book Bar in Mirvish Village.
The film adaptation of Project Hail Mary came out in March, and the group planned an outing to see it. The sci-fi story has become an unexpected favourite among them.
They all agreed that it was a well-done screen adaptation, and Rege even said she liked it better than the book. It stars Ryan Gosling, and if a plush toy of Rocky the alien is ever released, The Book Beaches will be first in line to pick one up.
“We encourage people to read outside of their box because you get used to reading certain kinds, but it’s nice to try other things,” said Bondy.
The books they’ve read have introduced them to new ones and broadened their horizons.
Once reading becomes for pleasure and not associated with grades, it becomes even more enjoyable.
“What do people do when they don’t read?” said Rege.
The Book Beaches can’t imagine not reading, or not having their monthly meeting, where they can simply sit, talk, and enjoy the shared language of words on pages.
