Reading just got a lot more fun in Hyderabad

Book clubs Bookgasm and The Lit People in Hyderabad offer unique, engaging experiences for book lovers and readers.

While most of the city is settling in for a lazy lunch on a Sunday afternoon, a bunch of strangers-turned-book-lovers are gathered at a cosy café — hungry for conversation, not food. This is Bookgasm, a six-month-old book club by Bengaluru-based Oopar Club, a physical social network. But it is not your usual book club. It is part of a larger effort to build communities around shared interests — whether it is reading, music, dance or sport, and turn solitary hobbies into something more social.

Sagar Agarwal, who started Bookgasm, says it came from a simple thought: “People would show up with their own books and read quietly.” As an avid reader himself, he realised that the real joy came not just from reading, but from sharing perspectives. “You take away one thing from a book, someone else sees it completely differently, and that is the fun bit.”

So Bookgasm was set up to spark proper, structured conversation. Each session is themed, with curated excerpts from a couple of books — modern or classic, fiction or non-fiction. For example, one session explored the idea of enlightenment through Osho’s Krishna and Coelho’s The Alchemist. “Both books tackled the same idea but from completely different cultural standpoints,” says Sagar.

The format is open, inclusive and lightly moderated to keep things flowing. Around 25 people usually show up to each session, held every other Sunday at 12.30pm in cafés (details avaliable on their app) around Hyderabad and Bengaluru. While Bookgasm now has over 500 members, the vibe remains intimate and laidback.

“At Oopar, we are not just building spaces for conversation, we are building connection,” says Sagar. Bookgasm has become a place where strangers turn into mates, where reading is not just solitary but social.

Bookgasm is hosted every alternate Sunday at 12:30pm across cafés and restaurants.

Imagine this: an author drops in for a book club session to share behind-the-scenes stories, a sketch artist teaches you how to draw Manga, or a history professor joins to bust a few myths. That is The Lit People for you — a four-month-old book club that is not just about reading, but about experience-led, thoughtful engagement.