There are many ways to read a book. One of them is to do so topless.

That, at least, is the premise behind the Topless Pulp Fiction Club, a small group of young women who have taken to gathering in city parks to read their favorite works of fiction sans brassierre or any other covering.

Going topless is legal according to New York law. And reading topless is fun, according to Topless Pulp co-founder A.A., who would not divulge her real name because of privacy concerns.

The club is a celebration of a woman’s freedom to bare her breasts and read a book at the same time — a reminder that not all nudity has to be salacious or even sexual, she says.

“A friend and I decided to start a group to take advantage of the legal rights we already had but weren’t using,” A.A. says, noting that she wanted to enjoy the same freedom as men who freely lounge on park grass with no thought of exposing their chests, whether they be pale, flabby, hirsute, tattooed or some grotesque combination of all of the above.

As for the club’s concentration on the lurid midcentury fiction known as “pulp,” A.A. explains, “Pulp fiction is fun because it’s one of the few genres in which the women on the covers of the books might be wearing less than we are.”

Certainly, there’s no lack of sexual suggestion on the covers of not-quite-classics like “I Should Have Stayed Home,” “Titan’s Daughter” and “The Baby Doll Murders,” the last of which concerns a femme fatale who “could look like a wistful child and she loved to play games — such as murder, man and marijuana.”

Yikes.

However, A.A. notes that despite the club’s explicit endorsement of what may fairly be called trashy stuff, members are not restricted regarding what they read: “We’ve had members turn up with Steinbeck and Faulkner, ‘The Hunger Games’ and Anais Nin, ‘Lolita’ and ‘House of Leaves.’ Something mischievous and fun seems to fit the spirit of the thing, maybe something with a hint of provocation to it. But really there’s no book that can’t be improved by being read outdoors while the sun and the breeze play across your bare skin. Why do you think the term ‘beach reading’ was coined?”

But the women of the pulp club are not just sun-lovers.

Indeed, they even hold their gatherings in the winter, when most New Yorkers seek to cover every inch of explosed flesh. As photos of club gatherings from this last winters attest, these women intend to do just the opposite.

A group of semi-nude reading outdoors in a public park is sure to attract stares, but A.A. says this is less of an issue “than you might think. Less than we expected going in, certainly,” she continues, explaining that “New Yorkers are a jaded, seen-it-all bunch, far too worldly to be stopped in their tracks by the sight of a bare breast. We’ve gotten more positive comments from women saying ‘You’re wonderful’ and ‘I wish I could do that’ than we have catcalls from men.”

In other words, this is not exactly your aunt’s suburban book club. And that’s probably a good thing.

Read more: NY Daily News