Book clubs beat apps for Gen X and Gen Z

Are book clubs the new dating app? Nearly one in four book club members have had a meet-cute at their reading group, according to a new survey.

The poll of 2,000 Americans who attend a book club found that a surprisingly high number (23%) have met someone they're interested in romantically at their club.

Interestingly, men were significantly more likely to report having met a romantic interest at a reading group compared to women (38% vs. 16%).

Conducted by Talker Research and commissioned by ThriftBooks, the study found that 44% of respondents would rather meet a romantic partner at their book club rather than on a dating app.

And out of all generations, Gen X (45%) and Gen Z (47%) were most likely to opt for a book club meet-cute over a dating app.

However, more than half of book club members (56%) confessed they like to keep their book club membership a secret from others in their life, with men being notably more likely to feel this way compared to women (69% vs. 48%).

Investigating how much reading they’re getting up to, the study found that book club members read 10 books, on average, in the last year.

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

And respondents' top reasons for joining reading groups, according to the study, were to read new books (68%), socialize (63%) and to make new friends (59%), with Gen Z and millennials (both 61%) being more likely to join book clubs in order to forge friendships, compared to older generations.

Seeing where they meet, 42% of book clubs meet in-person, 11% meet online and 43% meet via a combination of in-person and online gatherings.

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

“Not only are reading groups having a significant impact on readers’ romantic lives and friendships, they’re also hugely beneficial for book club members’ mental health,” said Barbara Hagen, vice president of marketing at ThriftBooks. “It’s incredible to see that readers are joining reading groups for the literary aspect as well as the social and wellness benefits.”

According to the survey results, Gen Z’s favorite genre to read with their book clubs is romance (44%) while millennials (42%), Gen X (45%) and baby boomers (54%) all enjoy mystery books the most.

When asked what they’re currently reading with their group, popular books respondents cited include “Fourth Wing,” “Gone with the Wind,” the Harry Potter series, “The Book Thief,” “The Midnight Library” and “The Outsiders.”

And uncovering their all-time favorite group reads, popular titles listed were “Little Women,” "Pride and Prejudice,” “The Help” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Most readers (63%) said that social media has influenced them to read more in the past year and 57% follow book influencers on social platforms.

Looking at where they’re most active on social media, Gen Z respondents spend the most time interacting in book communities on TikTok (60%) while millennials (62%), Gen X (64%) and baby boomers (54%) are most active on Facebook.

“In the survey, we found that readers are meeting in-person, online, in hybrid in-person and online settings and even on social forums. They’re also reading a diverse span of literature from recently-released titles to the classics and making friends and romantic connections along the way,” said Hagen. “If you’re curious about or interested in joining a book club, we encourage you to do it. There’s a group out there for everyone.”

POPULAR FAVORITE BOOK CLUB READS

• “Little Women”
• “Pride and Prejudice”
• “The Help”
• “To Kill a Mockingbird”
• “The Nightingale”
• “The Silent Patient”
• “The Women”
• “Where the Crawdads Sing”
• “A Child Called It”
• “It Ends with Us”
• “Moby Dick”
• “Milk and Honey”

Survey methodology:

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 Americans in book clubs; the survey was commissioned by ThriftBooks and administered and conducted online by Talker Research between April 17 and April 24, 2025.

We are sourcing from a non-probability frame and the two main sources we use are:

• Traditional online access panels — where respondents opt-in to take part in online market research for an incentive
• Programmatic — where respondents are online and are given the option to take part in a survey to receive a virtual incentive usually related to the online activity they are engaging in

Those who did not fit the specified sample were terminated from the survey. As the survey is fielded, dynamic online sampling is used, adjusting targeting to achieve the quotas specified as part of the sampling plan.

Regardless of which sources a respondent came from, they were directed to an Online Survey, where the survey was conducted in English; a link to the questionnaire can be shared upon request. Respondents were awarded points for completing the survey. These points have a small cash-equivalent monetary value.

Cells are only reported on for analysis if they have a minimum of 80 respondents, and statistical significance is calculated at the 95% level. Data is not weighted, but quotas and other parameters are put in place to reach the desired sample.

Interviews are excluded from the final analysis if they failed quality-checking measures. This includes:

• Speeders: Respondents who complete the survey in a time that is quicker than one-third of the median length of interview are disqualified as speeders
• Open ends: All verbatim responses (full open-ended questions as well as other please specify options) are checked for inappropriate or irrelevant text
• Bots: Captcha is enabled on surveys, which allows the research team to identify and disqualify bots
• Duplicates: Survey software has “deduping” based on digital fingerprinting, which ensures nobody is allowed to take the survey more than once

It is worth noting that this survey was only available to individuals with internet access, and the results may not be generalizable to those without internet access.