Book Drives Berlin

Marginalia Book Club: Reading Women in Translation

Welcome to the inaugural book club meeting of Marginalia: Reading Women in Translation! For Wednesday, November 18, we'll be reading the first book of Danish author Solvej Balle's revolutionary septology[ ](https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/on-the-calculation-of-volume-i-shortlisted-for-the-international-booker-prize-2025-solvej-balle/347ed1da44f1da83?ean=9780571383375)***[On the Calculation of Volume](https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/on-the-calculation-of-volume-i-shortlisted-for-the-international-booker-prize-2025-solvej-balle/347ed1da44f1da83?ean=9780571383375)***, translated by Barbara J. Haveland\*.\* Shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize, this novella wrings enthralling and magical new dimensions from time and its hapless, mortal subjects via an endless recursive day. As one Danish reviewer beautifully put it, Balle’s fiction consists of *writing that listens*: “Reading her is like being caressed by language itself.” The first meeting will be held in Neukölln at 7:00 PM. Exact location TBC, I will announce it closer to the event date in the chat.

Book Club Meeting 10 - The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

***Goal*** Hey there Readers! Put your spooky pants on and join us for a supernatural yet deeply historical tale set in Sri Lanka's 1980s' political turmoil. IMPORTANT: Bring a little sketch or drawing that was inspired by the book! ***Schedule*** 18:00 - Arrival and chitchats 18:20 - Small introduction of the book and first thoughts 18:30 - General discussion 19:00 - Show your drawing/painting! 19:30 - Further discussion and choice of the book for December

Ringbahn Read: Silent Reading in the S41

RSVP on [Luma ](https://luma.com/iyqj4qwz)for Event Updates. ​It's a silent reading party - BYOB (bring your own book)! All books and all readers are welcome! This time we're reading on board the Berlin **S41 Ringbahn**! **We will be taking the train departing at 11:01, boarding the last two cars.** ​**Our Agenda:** 10:30 - 11:00 — **Meeting [at the corner of Annemirl-Bauer-Platz Park](https://maps.app.goo.gl/DEKDRfexrKbNKEWg8)** across from Ostkreuz and get to know some of your fellow riders/readers! We'll walk over to the station together! ​11:01 - 12:01 — For those who need the extra 30 mins of sleep, feel free to meet us on the **S41 Platform** of Ostrkeuz. Board the S41 at 11:01 for the Great Quiet Reading Hour, where we complete a whole ring around the city of Berlin! ​12:01 — Get off at Ostkreuz to socialise, grab coffee, share your reading adventures, or just stay on the train for another round!

Reading Party ☕️📚

\*\*\*\*\*\* ***For address and more details see the website www.pausify.org*** \*\*\*\*\*\* **Event Info:** Pausify is the **biggest community and most active** of book lovers and creatives in Berlin. Impressions: Instagram: **[@Pausify (Co-Reading Space)](https://www.instagram.com/pausify_org/)** Events happen every Sat and Sun at 11 AM. Bring along your **current book to read** (or something **creative** to work on) and join us for this mix of a shared focus time + discussion. \- 11:00\-11:20 \- Meet & greet \- 11:20\-12:20 \- Silent focus time \- 12:20 \- Discussion of books/ projects over coffee Afterwards, join for lunch if you'd like (optional). **Drinks & snacks are included** ☕️ * **To reserve your place, a ticket (€9,90/event) or a community pass (only €17,90/MONTH) [from the website ](https://pausify.org/)*www.pausify.org* is required** * **Attendance here doesn’t show all sign-ups from other platforms. We usually have about 50 to 100 people at each event.** ***FAQ: Why does it cost money if I bring my own project?*** Because we rent a beautiful, central space for every event. Ever thought your monthly apartment rent was too high? Well, multiply that – that’s what commercial spaces in big cities like Berlin cost *per hour*. Of course, if all you want is just some quiet time, your home or a library is perfect. But if you’d like to focus & connect with others in an inspiring space – with drinks, snacks included – that’s what your ticket helps to cover. See pics from our events below - and on our Instagram: **[@Pausify (Co-Reading Space)](https://www.instagram.com/pausify_org/) ☕️** **[Pausify Co-Reading Space Website](https://pausify.org/) www.pausify.org** For questions, please contact us over [Website ](https://pausify.org/) www.pausify.org as this platform can have issues. Thank you! *Please note that photos and videos may be taken during the event and used for promotional purposes to highlight and share the experiences at our events. If you have concerns, don't hesitate to approach the event organizers before the event.*

English Book Club: Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy 📚

Last month, 18 of us gathered around Han Kang's *The Vegetarian* for one of our liveliest discussions yet. Thank you to everyone who came! In November we take a bold step: our fiction book club reads a memoir by one of the great novelists of our time. **The book** In *Mother Mary Comes to Me*, Arundhati Roy, the Booker Prize-winning author of *The God of Small Things*, tells the story of her mother, Mary Roy. Mary was a brilliant, restless and formidable woman. She founded a school in Kerala and won a landmark legal battle for women's inheritance rights in India. She was also a mother who could be both a refuge and a storm. Roy writes about how her mother shaped her into the writer she became, and how that same mother came to resent it. The result is a portrait of two extraordinary women and of a love that is fierce, complicated and never simple. It is also, surprisingly, very funny. The memoir has been one of the most talked-about books of the past year: * National Book Critics Circle Award (biography) * One of The New York Times' 10 Best Books of 2025 * Shortlisted for the 2026 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction **Why read it together?** Everyone has a mother story. This book invites us to talk about our own families, about the people who shape us and about what we carry from them, and about where memory ends and storytelling begins. We're expecting a rich and personal conversation. **Who is this for?** Everyone who loves books and good conversation. The discussion is in English, and you're welcome whether you're a native speaker or not. Come along even if you're still halfway through the book, because your impressions matter more than the last page. New faces are always very welcome! **Join the club** Our members choose the next titles together in a small WhatsApp group. Ask us at the event and we'll happily add you. 📖 Copies of the book are available at Metis. Drop by and pick yours up! **Entry is free.** We're a small independent bookshop and café, so we're always happy when you order something during the evening. We look forward to seeing you there! ❤️

Read Together, Meet People | Reading Accountability Club #1

### Read together, meet new people. Do you also have a growing pile of books you really want to read, but somehow never find the time for? Come meet others in the same boat! We'll get together in a cosy café, put our phones away, and finally make some time for focused reading. It's also a chance to discover what other people are reading, exchange ideas, get introduced to new topics and perspectives, and perhaps find your next favorite book. ***From fiction to psychology, philosophy, science, biographies and everything in between — readers are interesting people, and there's always something to learn from each other!*** **The idea is simple:** bring a book you're currently reading (or have been meaning to start), enjoy some quiet reading time, take breaks to chat, and make a few new friends along the way! ### The plan * **14:00** — Meet, grab a drink and settle in, quick introductions: get to know each other and share what we're reading or interested in * **14:20** — First reading session * **15:30** — Social break: chat about books, ideas and whatever comes up * **16:00** — Second reading session * **17:00** — Wrap up or keep chatting! ### A few details 📍**Café:** Café FreiRaum, Katzbachstraße 24, Kreuzberg *(provisional location. If anything changes, I will update the location here a few days before the event),* 🗓 **Saturday, 14 November** 🕝 **14:00–17:00** 👥 A small, informal gathering of book lovers. **What to bring:** A book or e-reader. Fiction and non-fiction are equally welcome — any genre, any language. No assigned reading, no preparation, no pressure. Just good books, curious minds and good company. **Come for the books, stay for the people.**

Co-Working in Charlottenburg (Sophie-Charlotte-Platz)

**☝️All Registrations and all communication through Luma, not Meetup 👇👇** [https://luma.com/ffg5pd5f](https://luma.com/ffg5pd5f) This is a cozy co-working session in a private living room. We're bringing together a small group of motivated people who enjoy being productive alongside others, sharing progress and keeping each other inspired. * ​**10:00** Say Hi & Settle In * ​**10:15** Focused work * ​**13:00** Lunch & Projects Introductions * ​**13:30** Focused work * ​**15:00** Progress Check-in * ​**15:15** Focused work *** * ​*Please be on time to avoid interrupting others once the work session has started* * ​*A separate room is available for calls* * ​*For lunch, there are plenty of nearby restaurants and a supermarket. A microwave is also available* ​**Looking forward to seeing you! ☕💻**

Breakfast and Co-Working in Charlottenburg (Sophie-Charlotte-Platz)

**☝️All Registrations and all communication through Luma, not Meetup 👇👇** [https://luma.com/04l7igl6](https://luma.com/04l7igl6) This is a cozy co-working session in a private living room. We're bringing together a small group of motivated people who enjoy being productive alongside others, sharing progress and keeping each other inspired. * ​**9:00** Breakfast (German-style with Brötchen, cheese, spreads, fresh vegetables & eggs 🥐☕) * ​**10:00** Focused work * ​**13:00** Lunch & Projects Introductions * ​**13:30** Focused work * ​**15:00** Progress Check-in * ​**15:15** Focused work * ​**17:00** Wrap Up *** * ​**Two ticket options:** With breakfast (from 9 AM) or without breakfast (from 10 AM). Coffee, tea & snacks included in both * ​**Please arrive on time** according to your ticket (9 AM or 10 AM), out of respect for everyone's time * ​**Calls:** A separate room is available * ​**Lunch:** Nearby restaurants, a supermarket & a microwave available ​**Looking forward to seeing you! ☕💻**

November Sci-Fi #1.1: "Light" by M. John Harrison (320pp)

November Sci-Fi #1.2: "Light" by M. John Harrison (320pp)

Reading in companionable SILENCE

Let’s get together, read and share what we have read at Kultur Café in Dussmann - the paradise for all book lovers where I have reserved a table for 6. Only RSVP if you really intend to come and are sure that you can make it.

Beyond Text: Imperfect Labels and Intent in Visual Retrieval

Visual retrieval is moving beyond text. Join us for two technical talks: teaching models to search documents by treating pages as images, including the problem of imperfect labels in training, and using intent detection to build image discovery in a fashion AI assistant. Pizza and drinks on us — stick around after for networking. **✍️ RSVP soon — capacity is limited!** 📅 **Date and Time** Wednesday, November 11, 2026 from 18:00-20:45 📍 **Location:** **[Hedwig-Wachenheim-Straße 7, 10243 Berlin](https://www.google.com/maps/search/Hedwig-Wachenheim-Stra%C3%9Fe+7+10243+Berlin?entry=gmail&source=g)** BHW Auditorium (1st floor), Zalando SE 📝 **Agenda** 18:00 – Doors open, arrivals and check-in 18:15 – Welcoming and open session 18:30 – **Teaching Models to Search Documents: What If the “Wrong” Answer Is Right?** by **[Saba Sturua](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssturua/)**, Senior AI Research Engineer @ Elastic *How do we teach models to search PDFs with tables, charts, and complex layouts? I’ll introduce visual document retrieval and explore how larger models can help train smaller search models, including why useful answers can be mistaken for wrong ones during training. This work is part of the research behind our next generation of Jina embedding models.* 19:00 – Q&A and quick break 19:15 – **From Conversation to Visual Search: Building Image Discovery for Zalando AI Assistant** by **[Inanda Menezes](https://www.linkedin.com/in/inanda-menezes-8bba3327/)**, Principal Software Engineer @ Zalando *How can a fashion AI assistant understand a customer's intent from visual input? In this talk, we’ll explore how we built image discovery for Zalando’s Assistant, considering the intent detection to support different use cases, from finding similar products to getting fashion advice. We’ll dive into how we connect these intents to the right processing and retrieval strategies, and share the key challenges.* 19:45 – Q&A, pizza, drinks & networking \*\*\* Invite your friends and join us for an evening of learning and networking with fellow engineers and speakers! Want to speak at our next meetup? Submit your talk on **[this link](https://sessionize.com/elastic-meetups/)** and we will get in touch with you as soon as possible.