The best book clubs in London for lit lovers

Launched by lefty publisher Victor Gollancz in 1936, the Left Book Club has since been rebooted for the twenty-first century and counts Jeremy Corbyn among its fans. Each title, usually non-fiction about radical politics, is selected by an expert panel. Sounds up your street but there aren't any chapters near you? You can start up a group in your own area – and get a free tote as a thank-you. Find out more here. 

Can’t keep up with the ‘cover reveals’ flooding your Instagram feed? Take time out from the onslaught of new publications by reading lesser-known works from big-time authors like Toni Morrison or one-time hits that fell out of public consciousness like Vera Caspary’s ‘Laura’ at the Forgotten Fiction book club. Don’t expect anything that was on your GCSE English reading list. The series runs at Waterstone's Gower Street branch and the £5 entry fee includes a drink. Each meet-up includes a vote on the next month's book, which will then be available for a fiver from the shop's second-hand department. 

On the third Thursday of the month, a collective of black women (trans, intersex and cis) meet among the shelves of London's bookshops – and sometimes online – to discuss Black feminist literature at the Self-Care as an Act of Warfare: A Black Woman’s Reading Group. The group is open to previous attendees and Patreon members, so sign up to support organisers Black Feminist Bookshop if you want to take part. 

Literature and plays by African, Caribbean and Afro-Latinx authors are the focus of Okha: The Queer + Black Book Club. Okha means story or tales in the Edo language of Nigeria. It’s more than a book club, mixing it up with art exhibitions and Q&As, screenings and panel discussions. See www.instagram.com/prim.black for info.

Every second Friday of the month, the Radical Readers gather to read works by revolutionary figures. In the past, they've discussed works by the likes of Simone de Beauvoir, Angela Davis, and more, with topics covered spanning race, gender identity, and class, among others. Find out more here. 

If you’re the kind of person who has a zombie apocalypse contingency plan tacked to your wall (or locked away in your brain), then the Post Apocalyptic Book Club – a literary league focusing on decaying civilisations – will be right up your tumbleweed-strewn street. The group’s been meeting at the Star of Kings pub for more than a decade. If we learnt anything from ‘Shaun of the Dead’, it's that the best way to tackle dystopian scenarios is from the inside of a bar. Find more info here.