Don’t delay, there are some great book club reads for July at your local indie. In date order:
WORD Fiction Book Club
Saturday, July 7, 12:00pm
Book: The Coffins of Little Hope by Timothy Schaffert
Jenn describes The Coffins of Little Hope as something like a weird blend of Lemony Snicket and The Fates Will Find Their Way — in the small town of Little Hope, known only for being the site of the printers for an immensely popular children’s series, a small girl goes missing. Narrated by an elderly obituary writer, who is not even sure that the missing girl ever existed in the first place, this book is a constant surprise and a dark pleasure to read. 10% off all June!
Bluestockings Feminist Book Club
Sunday, July 8, 2:30pm
Book: Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel
The Feminist Book Club reads and discusses feminism. We make no claims to any particular feminist platform. Rather, we rely on feminism(s). We read theoretical texts, literature and primary works. All are welcome regardless of gender, political persuasion, and familiarity. We meet on the first Sunday each month. For more information, email feministbookclubnyc@gmail.com. This month’s book (available at Bluestockings) is “Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama” by Alison Bechdel.
McNally Jackson Essay Book Club
Monday, July 9, 7pm (travel section)
Book: Six Memos for the Next Millennium by Italo Calvino
Six Memos for the Millennium is a collection of five lectures Italo Calvino was about to deliver at the time of his death. What should be cherished in literature? Calvino devotes one lecture, or memo to the reader, to each of five indispensable qualities: lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility, and multiplicity. A sixth lecture, on consistency, was never committed to paper, and we are left only to ponder the possibilities. With this book, he gives us the most eloquent defense of literature written in the twentieth century—a fitting gift for the next millennium. 10% off in-store.
McNally Jackson International Literature Book Club
Monday, July 9, 7pm (downstairs)
Book: Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka
When he was 4 years old, spurred by insatiable curiosity and the beat of a marching drum, Wole Soyinka slipped silently through the gate of his parents’ yard and followed a police band to a distant village. This was his first journey beyond Aké, Nigeria, and reading his account is akin to witnessing a child’s epiphany. 10% off in-store.
BookCourt Fiction Book Club
Wednesday, July 11, 7pm
Book: The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
At Westish College, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league until a routine throw goes disastrously off course. In the aftermath of his error, the fates of five people are upended. Henry’s fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future.
Housing Works and The Innocents Abroad Travel Writing Book Club
Saturday, July 14, 11:30am
Book: Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier
With great empathy and epic sweep, Frazier tells the stories of Siberia’s most famous exiles, from the well-known—Dostoyevsky, Lenin (twice), Stalin (numerous times)—to the lesser known (like Natalie Lopukhin, banished by the empress for copying her dresses) to those who experienced unimaginable suffering in Siberian camps under the Soviet regime, forever immortalized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago. Frazier reveals Siberia’s role in history—its science, economics, and politics—with great passion and enthusiasm, ensuring that we’ll never think about it in the same way again. Travels in Siberia is also a unique chronicle of Russia since the end of the Soviet Union, a personal account of adventures among Russian friends and acquaintances, and, above all, a unique, captivating, totally Frazierian take on what he calls the “amazingness” of Russia—a country that, for all its tragic history, somehow still manages to be funny. Please RSVP to nora@abbottandwest.com
WORD Classics Book Group
Saturday, July 14, 12:00pm
Book: Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky by Patrick Hamilton
Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky is perhaps the most British book ever written. From the man who brought you Gaslight, a sort-of trilogy full of characters worth loving and hating in equal measure. Due to the length of this book, we’ll devote two discussions to it: the first on July 14th and the second on August 11th. 10% off all June and July!
WORD Music Writing Book Group
Saturday, July 14, 3:00pm
Book: On Michael Jackson by Margo Jefferson
Music Writing Book Group moves on to Margo Jefferson’s meditation on one of the most popular (and contentious) musicians of all time, On Michael Jackson. 10% off leading up to discussion!
Bluestockings Radical Librarians Book Club
Sunday, July 15, 2:00pm
Book: Questioning Library Neutrality by Alison Lewis
The Radical Librarians Book Club is a group of aspiring librarians, current librarians, and other folks who are invested in re-envisioning the traditional library. We seek to examine issues of librarianship from a radical, politically-focused perspective, and build community within the field. This month’s book is “Questioning Library Neutrality: Essays from Progressive Librarian” edited by Alison Lewis.
Greenlight Fiction Book Group
Tuesday, July 17, 7:30 PM
Book: The Girl With Glass Feet by Ali Shaw
Led by former Greenlight staffer Natalie and co-owner Jessica, this book group discusses paperback fiction; in 2012, the group is focusing on award winners and under-the-radar gems. The winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize, The Girl with Glass Feet is a love story to treasure. Strange things are happening on the remote and snowbound archipelago of St. Hauda’s Land. Magical winged creatures flit around the icy bogland, albino animals hide themselves in the snow-glazed woods, and Ida Maclaird is slowly turning into glass. Ida is an outsider in these parts, but during one fateful visit the glass transformation began to take hold, and now she has returned in search of a cure
McNally Jackson: Book of the Month, International Literature, Essays, Spanish Book Club, and Poetry and Translation
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