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“We love our books in this town,” declares Ellen Skinner, who devours four a week and keeps a pillow on the floor to catch her e-reader in case she dozes off late at night.

Sure, lit lovers are everywhere. But consider this: Uxbridge boasts 28 book clubs, including one that has met for 104 years. It’s home to one of Canada’s most beloved bookstores, . And people don’t just read the stories — they live them, as they did when the downtown core was magically transformed into Harry Potter’s world of Hogsmeade a few years back.

There’s more. The township of 19,000 has bragging rights — which it exercises unabashedly — as Lucy Maud Montgomery’s home for 15 years. The creator of Anne of Green Gables wrote half of her 22 novels in Leaskdale just north of town. (Uxbridge is gearing up to celebrate the 100th anniversary of her arrival in October 1911.)

And literary legends like Timothy Findley, Michael Ondaatje, and Yann Martel didn’t need to be asked twice to drop in for readings.

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For Skinner, it’s easy to understand why Uxbridgians are wild about the written word. They’re also nuts about knitting, a hobby that goes hand-in-hand with reading, says the owner of knitting shop.

At a meeting of her Purls & Prose book club, chapter chat is punctuated by clicking needles as the diverse group of nine women digs into Deafening, a war novel by Frances Itani.

Skinner, who spends four hours between the covers every night, credits Blue Heron for doing a “fabulous job” as the community’s social, cultural and literary hub.

Owner Shelley Macbeth’s enthusiasm and love of literature “take(s) reading to a new level,” says a fan who helped propel the 22-year-old Brock St. W. shop into Canada’s top 10 favourites in a CBC survey.

Macbeth organizes events, offers writing workshops, runs a club, and brings authors in as part of the annual month-long Uxbridge This year’s books and authors night is Sept. 22.

Macbeth observes that her store is a sounding board for a lively “exchange of ideas.”

Passion for prose is in Uxbridge’s DNA, believes Barbara Pratt, one of its biggest book promoters. As the original owner of Blue Heron, she recalls the library urging her on because of how busy they were.

“Running a bookstore in a small town is just a lovely thing to do. People lean on the counter and tell you stories,” says Pratt, a member of the and 104-year-old club, Hypatia.

The group, named after the 5th century scholar, has digested close to 1,600 titles during twice-monthly meetings in the living rooms of its 14 or 15 members.

Founded in 1907 for high-society women, the club chose new members by secret ballot and fined late arrivals 5 cents, says Gwen Lyons, who joined 50 years ago. Rules have relaxed but standards are still high, adds the 81-year-old.

“I’ve read a better quality of book because I belong to the club,” Lyons says, naming John Ralston Saul’s vision of Canada, A Fair Country.

Not quite the preferred read of the all-male, all-teachers “This Ain’t Jo’ Mama’s Book Club.” The dozen members recently sank their teeth into a piece of horror fiction by Joe Hill, Stephen King’s son, says teacher-librarian Brian MacIsaac.

While “conversation can get a little off-colour,” he says, the men of TAJMBC take their books seriously — and served up with a potluck dinner of chili or burgers.