Book Swaps Los Angeles

Evening Book Club: The Stranger

Book for **October**: The Stranger by Albert Camus. Club is for the girls (and the gays!) to get together and chat about the book we read this month. Age range early/mid twenties ✨ Please RSVP to join the event! Since we only have 10 spots no cancellations please. We will discuss over tea or wine at historic Cafe Mak in ktown. If you cannot finish the book on time, feel free to still come and hang out :)

A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst

A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and a Shipwreck. Written by Sophie Elmhirst, Marriage at Sea is a nonfiction story about a British couple who spent 118 days stranded on a tiny raft in the Pacific Ocean after a whale sank their boat. It is said to be gripping and a page turner. Please join us at 10:30am for Discussion and Brunch at The Farmhouse at Descanso Gardens. Any questions, please reach out to the organizer, Alison.

September Bookclub: The Correspondent — Virginia Evans

**📚 Our September Book Has Been Chosen!** Thanks to everyone who voted! Our next **Books & Brew** read is: ***The Correspondent — Virginia Evans*** Grab a copy, start reading, and join us for a great conversation! **About the Book** Sybil Van Antwerp has spent much of her life putting pen to paper. Through letters exchanged with family, friends, authors, and strangers, she shares her thoughts, frustrations, memories, and the pieces of herself that can sometimes be easier to express in writing than face-to-face. Told entirely through correspondence, *The Correspondent* gradually reveals the story of a complicated, sharp-witted woman confronting the relationships, regrets, and losses that have shaped her life. Warm, reflective, and deeply human, the novel explores connection, forgiveness, grief, and the ways we continue to grow and understand ourselves—even when we think we already know our own story.

Blood Relations by Jonathan Moore

A modern detective novel featuring PI Lee Crowe, who investigates the mysterious death of Claire Gravesend, found in a cocktail dress atop a Rolls Royce in a dangerous San Francisco neighborhood. The story unfolds as Crowe navigates family secrets and unexpected twists while Claire's wealthy mother insists her daughter did not commit suicide

Korean-English Language Exchange

Literary Open Mic

Bring a five-minute (maximum) original reading to share with a community of writers. Or just come drink beer and soak in the poetry, short stories, songs, monologues, and more! It's free to attend and free to read. Check out our [merch](https://noholitmic.threadless.com/)! **Please note that the only way to reserve a spot to read is to follow this link to our [sign-up form](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sYc12KZ9c_P_6jbylgF1R1ER03S35XghUYgCR52Irf8/edit?tab=t.0) (or copy and paste the link below).** RSVPing on MeetUp doesn't guarantee you a spot! If you'd like to come listen without reading, you are very welcome to, and you do not need to sign up or RSVP. [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sYc12KZ9c_P_6jbylgF1R1ER03S35XghUYgCR52Irf8/edit?tab=t.0](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sYc12KZ9c_P_6jbylgF1R1ER03S35XghUYgCR52Irf8/edit?tab=t.0)

PLACEHOLDER: CicLAvia Downtown

Placeholder so we don't schedule a meetup on this day.

Book Club Meeting: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Happy Anniversary, Mocha Girls! ☕️🤎 Join the **Mocha Girls Read Los Angeles Chapter** as we celebrate another year of reading, friendship, fellowship, and community together. 📅 **Saturday, October 3, 2026** ⏰ **1:30 PM** 📍 **Lore Bookstore** Our September Monthly Book Selection is ***[Mexican Gothic](https://link.amazon/B09WaUZTJ)***[ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.](https://link.amazon/B09WaUZTJ) ### 📖 About the Book After receiving a disturbing letter from her newlywed cousin asking for help, glamorous socialite **Noemí Taboada** travels to High Place, an isolated mansion in the Mexican countryside. When she arrives, Noemí finds her cousin frightened and unwell, surrounded by her mysterious new husband and his unsettling family. High Place itself seems to hold secrets of its own. Noemí may seem like an unlikely investigator, but she is intelligent, determined, and not easily intimidated. As she begins asking questions and uncovering the history of the house and its inhabitants, she realizes there may be something far more dangerous happening than she first imagined. Filled with Gothic horror, family secrets, mystery, history, and an unforgettable Latina main character, ***Mexican Gothic*** gives us plenty to discuss as we continue our 2026 **AROUND THE WORLD** reading journey. And remember, **you don't need to read the book to join us.** Come for the conversation, meet your fellow Mocha Girls, and enjoy an afternoon of books, friendship, and community. ### 🎉 We Are Celebrating Our 15th Anniversary! This meeting is extra special because **it is our 15th anniversary!** To celebrate and thank our Mocha Girls for being part of this community, **everyone who attends will receive a special anniversary gift.** 🎁🤎 Whether this is your first meeting or you have been part of Mocha Girls Read for years, we would love to celebrate with you. **Please RSVP so we know you are coming.**

Recipes from the American South

***Recipes from the American South*** by Michael Twitty. Bring your own serving utensils, y'all! Post your dish here: [Click here to post your dish.](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HbSUMDTiiqM5eL-z2e_-buN_XFFwQo2YFe30z6ZqbU4/edit?usp=sharing)[ ](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pheYq6p2QAz8RhlSjmHcEZR8MitWvpfBhFprja30on0/edit?usp=sharing)(New members must post 3 days before.) 8 max guest list. Flaking not tolerated. 2 strikes and you'll need to pay a $70 fine.

Book Club: Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Put the kettle on, there’s a mystery brewing… Tea-shop owner. Matchmaker. Detective? Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy ‘detective’ work on the internet (AKA checking up on her son to see if he’s dating anybody yet). But when Vera wakes up one morning to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, it’s going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix things. Knowing she’ll do a better job than the police possibly could – because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands – Vera decides it’s down to her to catch the killer. Nobody spills the tea like this amateur sleuth. Looking forward to enjoying tea during our discussion at Steep in Chinatown. The menu can be found here: https://steepla.com/ The event fee will secure your reservation and be applied to membership dues, which covers the cost of the website. The event fee is nonrefundable unless the event is canceled by the organizer. To join the waitlist comment on the event page. If you have RSVPed and can no longer attend, please contact me directly and I will contact the people on the waiting list and then move you to "not going" when I find a replacement. Thank you and happy reading!

Let's Chat In Spanish and English!

This is a conversational meeting for both English speakers and Spanish speakers. We'll be conversing in Spanish half of the time, and English for the other half. All levels welcome! We will meet on the second floor of the Farmers Market. After you park in the open parking lot, look for the OLD GAS STATION STAND (yellow and red). It's not too far from the big clock. Go INTO the market area - behind the gas stand, and immediately turn left. There will be stairs to the second floor on your left. If you get lost, ask someone how you can get to the second floor near the Brazilian food stand. PARKING: The outside parking lot is free for ninety minutes if you get your ticket validated by purchasing anything at the Farmer's Market, including The Coffee Bean and World Market. \*If you park in the building near the market, you can NOT get your ticket validated. And don't park in the Whole Foods' lot because you could get towed. \*Parking is free for 90 minutes. It's $3.00 for the first fifteen minutes after that, plus another $1.00 for every 15 minutes afterwards.

🥟🍺 Dumplings + Beer = A Pretty Solid Friday Night🍺🥟

We’re heading to the **San Gabriel Dumpling & Beer Fest**, where the Historic Mission District gets taken over by dumplings, street food, craft beer, live entertainment, a night market, and thousands of hungry people making questionable decisions about how many dumplings constitute a reasonable dinner. Spoiler: there is no reasonable number. General admission to the festival is **FREE**, so you don't have to drink beer to join us. You purchase food separately from the vendors. If you want access to the 21+ Beer Garden and unlimited beer tastings, you'll need to buy a Beer Garden ticket separately. This year’s lineup includes local food vendors plus a bunch of breweries, so there should be plenty to eat, drink, and wander around pretending we have a strategy. My plan is pretty simple: meet up, explore together, find some great dumplings, maybe discover something weird and delicious, grab a drink if you're drinking, and hang out. Come hungry. Seriously. Don't eat dinner first and then show up saying, “I'll just have one dumpling.” Nobody likes a liar. 😂 🚗 **Getting There:** Parking around the festival can get busy, so I recommend parking far enough then taking an **Uber or Lyft** if you can. That also makes life much easier if you're planning to check out the Beer Garden. 🍺 **Festival Info / Tickets:** [https://dumplingandbeerfest.com/](https://dumplingandbeerfest.com/) **Yelp Reviews:** [https://www.yelp.com/biz/san-gabriel-dumpling-and-beer-fest-san-gabriel](https://www.yelp.com/biz/san-gabriel-dumpling-and-beer-fest-san-gabriel) **RSVP Info:** RSVP here so we know who to look for in the sea of dumplings and humanity. 😂 📍 **Where We’ll Meet:** Let’s meet **in front of the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse main entrance/marquee** before heading into the festival together. It should be a lot easier than trying to play “Where’s Waldo?” with 7,000 people and several thousand dumplings. 😂 If you’re running late, just message the group and we’ll let you know where we wandered off to. **Note:** Your Meetup RSVP does **not** include Beer Garden admission. If you want the Beer Garden, please purchase your own ticket ahead of time. Everyone will be paying their own way for food, drinks, and any festival tickets.