What we’re about
We think therefore we read!
We meet once every two months to discuss fiction that explores the nature of existence, challenges social and political concepts and tries to get to the core of what it might mean to be human.
For you if you like fiction that is considered:
• Philosophical
• Existential
• Experimental
• Postmodernist
• Novels of ideas
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- 1984 - George Orwell [Pub meeting]Prince of Wales, London
N.B. this meeting will be held in person in the Prince of Wales pub near Covent Garden. There is also an online session held on Thursday if you are not in London or cannot attend in person for any other reason.
This event is a Local Partner Event, supported by The Royal Institute of Philosophy
Step into the unfortunate shoes of Winston Smith as he suffers life under 'Big Brother' and 'The Party', where truth, facts, language and love are distorted into nightmares. Join us to discuss Orwell's always-relevant novel and explore themes of surveillance, repression and totalitarianism.
The meeting starts at 7 pm with drink breaks at 8 and 9. The discussion will end around 10 pm but leave whenever you need to.
You can buy the book in multiple formats from Amazon or search it out in a wonderful local bookshop or library.
Here's the summary from goodreads.com
Among the seminal texts of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a rare work that grows more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell's nightmarish vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff's attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell's prescience of modern life—the ubiquity of television, the distortion of the language—and his ability to construct such a thorough version of hell. Required reading for students since it was published, it ranks among the most terrifying novels ever written.
- 1984 - George Orwell [Online meeting]Link visible for attendees
N.B.: this meeting will be held online via Google Meet There is also an in-person session being held on Wednesday in the Prince of Wales pub near Covent Garden.
This event is a Local Partner Event, supported by The Royal Institute of Philosophy
Step into the unfortunate shoes of Winston Smith as he suffers life under 'Big Brother' and 'The Party', where truth, facts, language and love are distorted into nightmares. Join us to discuss Orwell's always-relevant novel and explore themes of surveillance, repression and totalitarianism.
The meeting starts at 7 pm with drink breaks at 8 and 9. The discussion will end around 10 pm but leave whenever you need to.
You can buy the book in multiple formats from Amazon or search it out in a wonderful local bookshop or library.
Here's the summary from goodreads.com
Among the seminal texts of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a rare work that grows more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell's nightmarish vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff's attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell's prescience of modern life—the ubiquity of television, the distortion of the language—and his ability to construct such a thorough version of hell. Required reading for students since it was published, it ranks among the most terrifying novels ever written.
- The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood [Pub meeting]Prince of Wales, London
N.B. this meeting will be held in person in the Prince of Wales pub near Covent Garden. There is also an online session held on Thursday if you are not in London or cannot attend in person for any other reason.
This event is a Local Partner Event, supported by The Royal Institute of Philosophy
Continue our exploration of dystopias with Offred as she tries to survive in the Republic of Gilead, a patriarchal theocracy in what was once the United States. Join us to discuss power, religion, gender and much more.
The meeting starts at 7 pm with drink breaks at 8 and 9. The discussion will end around 10 pm but leave whenever you need to.
You can buy the book in multiple formats from Amazon or search it out in a wonderful local bookshop or library.
Here's the summary from goodreads.com
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now…
Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.
- The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood [Online meeting]Link visible for attendees
N.B.: this meeting will be held online via Google Meet There is also an in-person session being held on Wednesday in the Prince of Wales pub near Covent Garden.
This event is a Local Partner Event, supported by The Royal Institute of Philosophy
Continue our exploration of dystopias with Offred as she tries to survive in the Republic of Gilead, a patriarchal theocracy in what was once the United States. Join us to discuss power, religion, gender and much more.
The meeting starts at 7 pm with drink breaks at 8 and 9. The discussion will end around 10 pm but leave whenever you need to.
You can buy the book in multiple formats from Amazon or search it out in a wonderful local bookshop or library.
Here's the summary from goodreads.com
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now…
Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.