Stuff To Do In Utah
The 10 Best Free Library Book Clubs in Salt Lake County
Salt Lake County has more free library book clubs than anyone realises, scattered across venues and buried in calendars that are a chore to search. These are our picks — the ones that run on a schedule you can plan around, for readers.
Every book club on this list is free and open to the public, so the real decision isn’t which one is “best” — it’s which format matches how you actually want to read and talk about books. Most people are well served by a standard, open-enrollment club: show up, discuss whatever the library has selected or the group has voted on, no application or ongoing commitment required. That description covers the club at Holladay Library, the general book club at Sandy Library, and Riverton’s Book Club, where registration is optional and simply exists to send you meeting reminders. If you just want a low-friction way to talk about books with other readers, start with whichever of those is closest to you.
Related reading: The 10 Best Free Stem And Building Clubs For Kids in Salt Lake County.
The clubs below diverge from that default in ways that matter more than location.
If you want the discussion built into something active
The Walking Book Club at Taylorsville Library pairs the discussion with a walk rather than a sit-down meeting. That’s a genuinely different commitment than the other clubs on this list: you’re signing up for a weekly walk-and-talk format, not a room and a chair. It’s the right pick if a stationary discussion group feels like one more thing to sit through, and the wrong pick if you want to save your energy for the book itself.
Related reading: The 10 Best Free Library Story Times in Salt Lake County.
If you need a format built for cognitive differences
Reading Together, held at Granite Library, is designed specifically for adults with Down syndrome, autism, and other cognitive differences. This isn’t a general club that happens to be welcoming — it’s structured around that audience, which makes it a better fit than a standard discussion group for readers who need that kind of environment, and a less relevant choice for anyone who doesn’t.
If independent reading isn’t the right fit
The New Readers Book Group at the Main Library is built for adults who are new to reading. Instead of finishing the book on your own before the meeting, the group takes turns reading the same book aloud together and discusses it as they go. That changes what’s required to participate: no reading homework, just the ability to show up. It’s the clearest alternative to every other club on this list, which all assume members arrive having already read the selection.
If the draw is the community, not just the book
A couple of clubs are defined more by who they’re for than by their reading format. The Feminist Book Club at Granite Library describes itself as casual, mixed-gender, intergenerational, and LGBTQ+ friendly — a fit for readers who want the discussion to happen in a specific kind of space. Separately, the Draper Senior Center’s “Young at Heart” Book Club and the Riverton Senior Center Book Club are both hosted at senior centers rather than library branches, which makes sense if you’re already connected to senior center programming; the Riverton Senior Center club also requires a phone call to register rather than the walk-in or online sign-up used elsewhere, which is worth knowing before you plan around it.
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