Welcome to Book Club
Everyone is welcome at book club! That is, as long as you’re willing to keep your opinions on the book in question to yourself until we have all crossed the threshold of Gay’s The Word bookshop. In fact, it is probably best to forget about the existence of books altogether prior to 7:30PM on the fourth Tuesday of every month (so not to upset the regulars).
The London Ace Book Club is for “anyone on the ace or aro spectrums or questioning” (aceandarolondon.org.uk). We discuss both fiction and non-fiction either containing asexual representation or which touches on themes relating to asexuality and/or aromantism.
Co-founded by two aces - Caroline and Harriet - who met on AVEN (the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network) and discussed the idea over coffee, book club had its first meeting back in August 2022. This club has brought together regular attendees, those who can’t come every month but are active in the club’s discord server, and even one-time visitors who gladly stumble across our little community on a trip to London before heading back home. (I previously spoke to Caroline about how the club was founded which you can read about here).
Gay’s The Word truly is a magical place to hold a queer book group. For readers who are unfamiliar with the shop (and you really should visit if you can!), Gay’s The Word is on Marchmont Street in Bloomsbury, London. It is just a short walk away from Russell Square tube station and, if you’re instead walking from the direction of the Euston Road (King’s Cross, St Pancras, and Euston stations), you will likely find yourself using the trans flag pedestrian crossings en route – very fitting.
The shop proudly stands out from the crowd with its pink triangles and rainbow window displays. Step inside and you will be greeted by one of the shopkeepers with a friendly hello and a warm smile. They are all wonderful and can answer all your queer book-related questions! The shop itself is quite skinny with every nook and cranny used. There are a lot of books (obviously!), but also postcards, badges, t shirts, and all-round great vibes.
Given the narrow nature of the space, setting the chairs up in the bookshop at the beginning of each book club meeting has itself become quite an event. We’ll get a chair train going from the storeroom into the shop, passing chairs along the line until we have enough. As the number of regular attendees has gone up, it’s also become more difficult to fit all the chairs in the shop in a way that we can all talk to each other easily. These days we can have 10-20 people at each meeting, so we end up feeling a bit like we’re talking down a tube carriage, two rows of people facing each other, needing to project our voices for those down the other end to hear us. But that’s all part of the fun and part of the charm of the place, and is, of course, very London of us.
There have only been two times in its history that everyone attending book club has read the whole book ahead of a meeting (as of January 2025). Both of these happened in 2024: first when we discussed Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata in February, and the second in September talking about The Dragon of Ynys by Minerva Cerridwen. This goes to show that the club has such a relaxed atmosphere; you don’t have to have read the book in time (as long as you’re okay with spoilers). And even when you don’t know the text, the books we choose, more often than not, simply act as the spark that initiates the nuanced conversations that we all go to this in-person asexual gathering for in the first place.
I’ll let you in on another secret: *whispers* book club is only part of the evening’s activities. Head to the nearby Leon an hour or so earlier and you will find a gaggle of socialising aces spreading ourselves across multiple tables chatting away like we own the place.
It is in this additional hour that you can see the growth in this community. We are not there to just discuss ace books; we are there to spend time with people who we don’t need to explain ourselves to. We are there to meet like-minded people, to make friends, and have fun in an accepting environment.
We have never been an exclusive group. The founders always made it clear that not only should we be welcoming everyone who steps through the doors, but that we should spread the word about our meetings and the books we read, and let others explore asexuality, as we have, through books and community.
So hello! You are welcome here. It is fabulous to meet you!
- Sarah