At 6:30 p.m., I arrive at Doodles. I know you’re thinking, Oops, it’s only open through lunch. Except, when I try the door, it opens. There’s an event, tickets sold in advance for $30: “Doodles After Dark.”

A long breakfast table is covered in decorations, including a wrapped romance book at each seat with quotes written on the paper. There are craft supplies. And the curators of this special romance book club — Magpie Collective’s Grace Norton and America Edwards — are busy icing cinnamon rolls for those who signed up to come.

“People will show up and say, ‘We don’t leave the house, but we kept hearing about how welcoming this is,’” Edwards said.

These book clubs are specifically set up to create a safe, comfortable, accessible space for people to join in and talk about books in a chosen genre. In addition to “Doodles After Dark,” the last Tuesday of each month, currently reading Abby Jimenez’s “Part of Our World,” there are:

Historical fiction at The Willow at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month, currently reading Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Lucuna,” and
A new fantasy fiction book club at Creatures of Whim begins at 7 p.m. on June 9 (and on every second Tuesday going forward over the summer).

Contact them via DM or sign up via their Eventbright listings. Instagram is also the best way to find out about other offerings, such as a recent “Bookish Speed Dating” event at the Void where everyone went home with their perfect date night…book.

The Collective’s start could have come from a novel itself. It was born from tragedy.

“My mother passed away suddenly in July last year,” Norton said. “I inherited about a thousand books of hers. She would write in them. In one, we found a list of dreams for her life. She never got to start her own business.”

A lifelong Lexingtonian, Norton and her new friend Edwards, a recent transplant, talked about that wish and their mothers, who both had fostered a love of books. Norton said she wanted to be a “traveling book woman.” Edwards, an academic interested in “soft socialization,” creating low-pressure events to foster connection, was game.

I also attended the historical book club, because how could I resist? Not having been the previous month, it was still a blast from start to finish, so don’t worry about jumping in fresh without reading the previous month’s book. Edwards and Norton provided context and asked questions about “The Personal Librarian” and created small groups for discussions. At the end, the next month’s choice is unwrapped with appropriate oohs and aahs. The books chosen are inclusive and empowering, featuring complex women.

Fitting then, that their logo features the handwriting of Norton’s mom, and was watercolored by Edwards’ mother. The story of the Magpie Collective, obviously, is still being written.