Past Events

Thursday Mystery Club

Reading a broad range of mystery/true-crime books, from classics to cozies and historical to procedurals. Featuring a new release in paperback each month. Led by Sam Based on the real story of the unsolved deaths of Joseph Elwell and New Yorker writer Morris Markey, Mariah Fredericks’s new novel is a glittering homage to the dawn of the Jazz Age. New York, 1920. Zelda Fitzgerald is bored, bored, bored. Although she’s newly married to the hottest writer in America, and one half of the literary scene’s "it" couple, Zelda is at loose ends while Scott works on his next novel, The Beautiful and Damned. Meanwhile, Atlanta journalist Morris Markey has arrived in New York and is lost in every way possible. Recently returned from the war and without connections, he hovers at the edge of the city’s revels, unable to hear the secrets that might give him his first big story. When notorious man-about-town Joseph Elwell is found shot through the head in his swanky townhouse, the two southerners realize they were both among the last to see him alive. Markey has his story. Zelda has her next adventure.As they investigate which of Elwell’s many lovers—or possibly an enraged husband—would have wanted the dapper society man dead, Zelda sweeps Markey into her New York, the heady, gaudy Jazz Age of excess and abandon, as the lost generation takes its first giddy steps into a decade-long spree. Everyone has come to do something, the more scandalous the better; Zelda is hungry for love and sensation, Markey desperate for success and recognition. As they each follow these ultimately dangerous desires, the pair close in on what really happened that night—and hunt for the elusive girl in the green dress who may hold the truth.

Penguin Classics Revisited

We're diving into the classics! This group mixes popular, familiar titles with newly translated/published works and lesser known authors. Led by Todd. Often considered the highest achievement in Korean fiction, The Nine Cloud Dream poses the question: Will the life we dream of truly make us happy? Written in 17th-century Korea, this classic novel’s wondrous story begins when a young monk living on a sacred Lotus Peak in China succumbs to the temptation of eight fairy maidens. For doubting his master’s Buddhist teachings, the monk is forced to endure a strange punishment: reincarnation as the most ideal of men. On his journey through this new life full of material, martial, and sensual accomplishments beyond his wildest dreams, he encounters the eight fairies in human form, each one furthering his path towards understanding the fleeting value of his good fortune. As his successes grow, he comes closer and closer to finally comprehending the fundamental truths of the Buddha’s teachings. Like Hesse’s Siddhartha, The Nine Cloud Dreamis an unforgettable tale that explores the meaning of a good life and the virtue of living simply with mindfulness.

Steamy Stories Society

Spicy romance reads. Sometimes on the darker side. 18+ only. Check each meeting announcement for trigger/content warnings. Led by Alexis. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Quicksilver comes a contemporary dark romance. This stunning Deluxe Limited Edition includes designed edges and cover effects—only available while supplies last. What happens in the dark never stays in the dark. As one of Seattle’s most dangerous, feared men, Zeth Mayfair has always carried out the jobs he’s sent on without a second thought. Drugs? Guns? Dirty money? They’re all fair game. But when Zeth’s employer crosses a dangerous line, Zeth’s usually uncomplicated life suddenly becomes very complicated indeed. And his biggest complication goes by the name of Sloane Romera. ​Sloane is desperate to find her missing sister, but all doors leading into the seedy underworld that took her are firmly closed in Sloane’s face. Sloane’s a trauma doctor; she wants information, a diagnosis, a plan. What she really needs is help … but she’ll also need to pay a price. Zeth is terrifying, scandalously hot, and comes fully loaded with a terrible attitude and wicked smile. He also looks like he’s Sloane’s only hope. Getting his help will require Sloane to risk everything … including her heart.Content Warnings

Out Of This World Book Group

Fantastical Worlds. Robots. Space Ships. Dragons. Magic. We alternate each month between a Fantasy and a Sci-Fi book! Led by Alex D. In celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, a commemorative edition of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Hugo, Locus, and Nebula Award–winning classic, a profound and thoughtful work of philosophical science fiction exploring anarchism and capitalism, individualism and collectivism, and one ambitious man’s quest to bridge the ideological chasm separating two worlds. This special edition includes a new foreword by Karen Joy Fowler. A science fiction classic for the ages, The Dispossessed is the spellbinding story of anarchist Shevek, the “galactically famous scientist,” who single-handedly attempts to reunite two planets cut off from each other by centuries of distrust. Anarres, Shevek’s homeland, is a bleak moon settled by an anarchic utopian civilization, where there is no government, and everyone, at least nominally, is a revolutionary. It has long been isolated from other worlds, including its mother planet, Urras—defined by warring nations, great poverty, and immense wealth. Now Shevek, a brilliant physicist, is determined to unify the two civilizations. In the face of great hostility, outright threats, and the pain of separation from his family, he makes an unprecedented trip to Urras. Greater than any concern for his own wellbeing is the belief that the walls of hatred, distrust, and philosophic division between his planet and the rest of the civilized universe must be torn down. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and explore differences in customs and cultures, determined to tear down the walls of hatred that have kept them apart in this landmark of social science fiction.To visit Urras—to learn, to teach, to share—will require great sacrifice and risks, which Shevek willingly accepts. Almost immediately upon his arrival, he finds not the egotistical philistines he expected, but an intelligent, complex people who warmly welcome him. But soon the ambitious scientist and his gift is seen as a threat, and in the profound conflict that ensues, he must reexamine his beliefs even as he ignites the fires of change.

Fic Pick Book Group

A monthly discussion of buzzworthy new fiction. Selections are announced as they're published! The award-winning, bestselling author of Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility returns with a breathtaking novel of doubles, shadow worlds, and fractured timelines as a man disappears from a glittering Los Angeles party, and a woman—a gunrunner, an art collector, an operative of the State—searches for answers.Los Angeles, 2031: The first spring after the collapse of the United States, peacekeeping troops withdraw from the city, the Jacaranda trees blossom, and the curfew is finally lifted. Ari Waker and her roommate pass the gauntlet of bomb-sniffing dogs, the shanty towns, and the Red Cross tents as they walk across Silverlake to a party. The mood is ecstatic inside the apartment, people drink and dance, a woman wears a silver dress, pleated like tinfoil. And then: A shift. A bewildered twin, an uncanny doppelganger stumbles through the crowd and out into the night, and Kareem, the party’s host, vanishes into thin air.As Ari Waker unravels the mystery of this inexplicable night, Emily St. John Mandel unfurls a story that takes us from a future America splintered by civil war to the seaside cliffs of Greece where weapons dealers hide in an elegant resort, and from the domed city of Paris to a colony on the moon. An unforgettable literary feat, Exit Party is a novel about the price of safety, the perils of the surveillance state, a requiem for a world not unlike our own, and a breathtaking story of resilience in the face of cataclysmic change.

An Evening With Patricia Grace King

Join us on Saturday, October 24th for An Evening with Patricia Grace King! She'll be chatting with Shirley Showalter about her new book, Those Who Vanish. Taking place during the decades-long civil conflict, Those Who Vanish follows the stories of Guatemalan citizens and North American expats set on a collision course by war. Martyrs and missionaries, guerrillas and gringos are thrown together amid political violence. A peace worker shelters a rebel fighter. An exile returns to confront the legacy of her parents' murders. The Virgin Mary begins appearing above an elderly woman's stove. Set in a world of daily disappearances, the collection addresses a vital question: When all certainties are snatched away, what remains of lives, of memory, of faith?

Halloween Horror with Jonathan Edward Durham

Get in the Halloween Spirit with Horror Author Jonathan Edward Durham Wednesday, October 21, 7pm $25, includes book & refreshments. Jonathan Edward Durham was born in Eastern Pennsylvania where he read voraciously through his youth and beyond. He studied literature at William and Mary while pursuing a degree in neuroscience, and now writes to bridge the wonder of his favorite childhood books with the pop sensibilities of the classic thrillers he grew up with. He still lives in the Lehigh Valley with his husband and a house full of animals. About the Book: Everyone has wanted their favorite book to be real, if only for a moment. To meet their favorite characters, if only for a day. But be careful in that wish, for a history laid in ink can be repaid in flesh and blood, especially on Addington Isle. Winterset Hollow follows a group of friends to the place that inspired their favorite book—a timeless tale about a tribe of animals preparing for their yearly end-of-summer festival. But after a series of shocking discoveries, they find that much of what the world believes to be fiction is actually fact, and that the truth behind their beloved story is darker and more dangerous than they ever imagined. It’s Barley Day. . . and you’re invited to the hunt. How do you celebrate Barley Day? You run, friend. You run.

Intro To Tarot, Part 1

Curious about what Tarot is and what it can do for you? We are offering a small group class on how to read Tarot cards! Alexis will walk you through the archetypal language of Tarot, introduce Major and Minor Arcana card symbolism, and show you some basic spreads that you can use to read Tarot for yourself at home. $35. Includes materials and a deck to take home.

Amy Sarig King Launch Event