Book Swaps Los Angeles

The Year of Magical Thinking

Join us for a Book Club discussion **The Year of Magical Thinking** by Joan Didion; a harrowing memoir exploring the year following the sudden death of her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, and the severe, concurrent illness of their daughter, Quintana Roo. Didion maps the disorienting, isolating, and utterly illogical nature of profound grief. Sounds depressing and also a VERY good read according to many. We will meet at Oh LA LA on Colorado. Please be on time. They will not seat us until all of us are there.

Last Patient of the Night by Gary Gerlacher

A Goodreads 4.22 \*, *Last Patient of the Night* is the first in the AJ Docker series. The death of a nameless young woman in his emergency room spurs physician AJ Docker to seek answers. She arrived beaten. Tortured. Fingertips severed. No name. No ID. Before he could save her, she was gone. *Together with his policeman friend* and a police dog, he sets out on a quest for justice for his lost patient, but he discovers more questions than answers as he delves into the criminal world. ***Last Patient of the Night*** is an action packed thriller interspersed with lighthearted stories from the emergency room, featuring a cast of interesting characters. *Gary Gerlacher’s* experience as an emergency physician lends authenticity to the ER culture. His debut novel is the first in the AJ Docker series, and will leave you turning pages late into the night. THERE ARE NO *LAPL* HARD COPIES. HOOPLA HAS LOTS OF E-BOOKS, AMAZON PRIME HAS KINDLE FOR FREE OR BUY THE BOOK.

Book Discussion: The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong

"From the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collections Night Sky with Exit Wounds and Time Is a Mother, as well as the novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, comes The Emperor of Gladness—a novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive. One evening in East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on a bridge, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to an elderly widow with dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he becomes her caretaker. The unlikely pair develop a life-altering bond built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to transform Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community on the brink. The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. It’s about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and how far we would go to possess one of life’s most fleeting mercies: a second chance. A recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and the American Book Award, Ocean Vuong used to work as a fast-food server, which inspired The Emperor of Gladness. Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he currently splits his time between Northampton, Massachusetts, and New York City. Vuong will be in conversation with Nicole Chung, the author of the memoirs A Living Remedy, named a Notable Book by The New York Times, and All You Can Ever Know, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award."

The Secret History- Donna Tartt

Queer Book Club- "Luda" by Grant Morrison

Los Angeles Beginner Speed Dating via Zoom

A friendly online speed dating evening for Los Angeles singles, hosted on Zoom. We're a welcoming local community where people come to meet genuine faces from the area. Expect short one-on-one chats, matched by age, all from the comfort of home. Sign up here: [Reserve your place](https://theliveround.com/product?productId=570&productType=onlineSpeedDating&city=Los%20Angeles&groupurlname=club-dust-jacket-discussion-and-meetup-society&face_v=1.0) Tapping RSVP lets us know you're interested. To join the rounds, please finish your sign-up at the link above.

Los Angeles French Language Circle

Ready to practice your French in a relaxed, friendly setting? Join us for our next language circle! This informal session is designed for local learners of all levels—whether you are just starting out with "Bonjour" or looking to polish your conversational skills. We will have light discussion prompts, fun icebreakers, and plenty of opportunities to chat and connect with fellow language lovers in the neighborhood. - **Cost:** Completely Free! - **Refreshments:** Complimentary snacks and drinks will be provided to keep the conversation flowing. - **What to bring:** Just your curiosity, enthusiasm, and a desire to learn! Spaces are limited to keep the conversation engaging, so please RSVP to secure your spot. We can't wait to meet you! À bientôt !

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

In a slight departure, the runner-up from the June book poll is now the July book, and the July book poll winner is now the August book, for two reasons: The selected title for August is long and still has a 14 week wait at the library, so hopefully pushing it back by one month will give everyone enough time to get it and read it! **Summary of Eleanor Oliphant from Goodreads:** No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine. Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

August: "Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage" by Belle Burden

**LOCATION:** To be announced! **WHAT WE'RE READING:** *It was a great love story, one for the ages. The speed of our beginning and the speed of our ending felt like matching bookends. They both came out of nowhere. He wanted it, he wanted me. And then he didn’t.* In March 2020, Belle Burden was safe and secure with her family at their house on Martha’s Vineyard, navigating the early days of the pandemic together—building fires in the late afternoons, drinking whisky sours, making roast chicken. Then, with no warning or explanation, her husband of twenty years announced that he was leaving her. Overnight, her caring, steady partner became a man she hardly recognized. He exited his life with her like an actor shrugging off a costume. In *Strangers,* Burden revisits her marriage, searching for clues that her husband was not who she always thought he was. As she examines her relationship through a new lens, she reckons with her own family history and the lessons she intuited about how a woman is expected to behave in the face of betrayal. Through all of it, she is transformed. The discreet, compliant woman she once was—someone nicknamed “Belle the Good”—gives way to someone braver, someone determined to use her voice. With unflinching honesty and profound grace, Burden charts a path through heartbreak to show the power of a woman who refuses to give up on love. *Strangers* is a stunning, deeply moving, compulsively readable memoir heralding the arrival of a thrilling new literary talent. **NO SHOW POLICY:** In April 2019, a new NO SHOW POLICY was put into place to help ensure people on the waitlist can get into each meeting with enough time to read the book while also weeding out flakey flakers who reserve a seat but don't use it. The new NO SHOW POLICY is in two parts: (1) If you RSVP 'Going' and cancel your RSVP within seven days of book club WITHOUT EXPLANATION, you'll be immediately removed from the group. (2) If you RSVP 'Going' and cancel your RSVP within seven days of book club with explanation, but for any reason, you'll be marked a 'No Show.' If you rack up three 'No Shows," you'll be removed from the group.

Author Conversation with Nayantara Roy - Sisters of a Halved Heart

Come join us for a conversation with author Nayantara Roy as she discusses her newest book with us Sisters of a Halved Heart. Nayantara had previously written The Magnificent Ruins which drew a lot of critical claim, this time around her newest novel focuses on the story of two sisters who have to navigate a terrible betrayal from within their family. In a propulsive story of love and passion and the ultimate pull of family, *Sisters of a Halved Heart* examines the lengths we will go to in order to make our own narratives of love work out, the lies we tell ourselves, and the ways in which the truth, often right in front of you, can be impossible to see.

Book Club: If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura

In *If Cats Disappeared from the World,* our narrator’s days are numbered. Estranged from his family, living alone with only his cat Cabbage for company, he was unprepared for the doctor’s diagnosis that he has only months to live. But before he can set about tackling his bucket list, the Devil appears with a special offer: in exchange for making one thing in the world disappear, he can have one extra day of life. And so begins a very bizarre week . . . Looking forward to enjoying boba and books at Dym in Pasadena. The menu can be found here: https://www.dympasadena.com/drinks 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!

Summer Swap + Closet Reset + Sewing Basics

Learn how to do a basic stitch and repair the holes in your clothes! Karli will be teaching a mini workshop. ​Bring some clothes and other things from your closet and put it on our rack. Grab some things you like and take everything else back :) BYOB! See you soon!