Book Swaps Los Angeles

October Book Club Meet Up

This will be our first ever meet up! We will be discussing Verity by Colleen Hoover,a dark, twisty psychological thriller that will have us questioning who we can actually trust. Come hang out with us for an evening of books, conversation, and socializing. We’ll spend some time talking about Verity, sharing our thoughts and theories, and plenty of time just getting to know each other and hanging out. Didn’t read the book? Come anyway! You’re still completely welcome. Come meet some fellow readers, make new friends, and enjoy a night out.

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 :)

October Book Club - The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno Garcia

Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales. In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel, The Vanishing, was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances. As Minerva descends ever deeper into Tremblay’s manuscript, she begins to sense that the malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch. Minerva suspects that the same shadow that darkened the lives of her great-grandmother and Beatrice Tremblay is now threatening her own in 1990s Massachusetts. An academic career can be a punishing pursuit, but it might turn outright deadly when witchcraft is involved.

The Thief of Always by Clive Barker

**It’s spooky season!**

Short Scary Stories October

We are moving to Heylo.group

This book club was founded in November 2008 right here on Meetup. So many things have changed since then and yet we are still Adults Who Read Young Adult. One of the things that has changed is Meetup itself. It now costs over $350 a year to host this group on Meetup. To be clear: that is NOT what Panera Bread is charging us (Panera Bread doesn't charge us). That is what Meetup charges us. Because of the costs as well as the fact that we're not getting new people through Meetup, we have decided to move platforms to Heylo -- a free group platform. We will now be at [http://heylo.group/adults-who-read-young-adult](http://heylo.group/adults-who-read-young-adult) And we will be shutting down this Meetup. That will be the only thing changing. Still at Panera Bread, 12131 Ventura Blvd, still once-a-month on Sunday, etc. We hope you all join us on November 22. [Please go over to Heylo to see the details](https://www.heylo.com/events/20d2891d-046c-4748-b050-8891e8a94c26/-P2-xpCQQygcDMPc9tmA).

"I See You've Called In Dead" by John Kenney: Book TBD

**\*\*\*NOTE: We have changed the date for this event, to October 17th\*\*\*** **LOCATION:** Marla's House! Address will be emailed and posted the Friday before! (South Redondo Beach) **WHAT WE'RE READING:** *The Office meets Six Feet Under meets About a Boy in this coming-of-middle-age tale about having a second chance to write your life’s story.* Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who is afraid to live. Yes, his wife recently left him for a “far more interesting” man. Yes, he goes on a particularly awful blind date with a woman who brings her ex. And yes, he has too many glasses of Scotch one night and proceeds to pen and publish his own obituary. The newspaper wants to fire him. But now the company’s system has him listed as dead. And the company can’t fire a dead person. The ensuing fallout forces him to realize that life may be actually worth living. As Bud awaits his fate at work, his life hangs in the balance. Given another shot by his boss and encouraged by his best friend, Tim, a worldly and wise former art dealer, Bud starts to attend the wakes and funerals of strangers to learn how to live. Thurber Prize-winner and *New York Times* bestselling author John Kenney tells a funny, touching story about life and death, about the search for meaning, about finding and never letting go of the preciousness of life. **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.

Queer Book Club- "Palm Meridian" by Grace Flahive

These Savage Shores by Ram V - Graphic Novel

Two centuries after the first European ship sailed to the Malabar Coast and made landfall at Calicut, the East India Company seeks to secure its future along the lucrative Silk Route, in the year 1766. An old evil now sails aboard a company ship, hoping to make a home in this new found land. But he will soon find that the ground along the Indus is an ancient one with daemons and legends far older than himself. Along These Savage Shores, where the days are scorched and the nights are full of teeth. This is going to be a change of pace for us, this will be the first graphic novel we have read and shared together for the book club. If you utilize Hoopla it should give you unlimited copies through the Los Angeles County Library or whatever library system you are part of just use your library card. Of course you can find it on Kindle or call you local comic book store and they should have a copy of it for purchase. If you have any troubles getting a hold of it please let me know.

[Book + Movie] HORROR BOOK CLUB (October): “Incidents Around the House”

October Discussion: The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Our October Book Has Been Chosen! 📚 Thanks to everyone who voted! Our next Books & Brew read is: **The Vegetarian — Han Kang** Grab a copy, start reading, and join us for a great conversation! **About the Book:** After a series of disturbing dreams, Yeong-hye makes the seemingly simple decision to stop eating meat. But as her family reacts with increasing confusion, anger, and attempts to control her, that decision becomes the beginning of a much more profound transformation. Told through the perspectives of those around Yeong-hye, The Vegetarian explores autonomy, desire, conformity, violence, and the ways we understand—or fail to understand—the people closest to us. Originally published in Korean and translated by Deborah Smith, Han Kang’s unsettling novel won the 2016 International Booker Prize and invites plenty of questions about identity, choice, and what happens when someone refuses to live according to the expectations placed upon them.

Korean-English Language Exchange