This book is the first comprehensive academic publication on social reading within german speaking countries. It contains a collection of thirteen scholarly articles dealing with privately organized reading groups, online reading platforms, book selection processes, book talk in relation to theories of knowledge and pleasure, and forms of social reading in analog and digital communities. The overall focus is set on the ordinary reader negotiating, constructing and co-constructing (literary) meaning. Core contributions are based on findings of a research project conducted at Universitat Klagenfurt, Austria. Articles on professional literary criticism and international perspectives from Canada, Spain and Australia extend the scope.