One Drink Minimum Book Club of Princeton

The results are in! The winner of our poll - and the book we will discuss on October 8, 2025 - is Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noah. We used STAR Voting again this month, and twenty-three members voted in the poll. Of our four book choices, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone and Born a Crime received the most stars in the scoring round and advanced to the runoff round. In the runoff round, six people ranked the finalists equally; Maybe You Should Talk to Someone received eight votes and Born a Crime received nine votes. Thank you to everyone who voted!

If you are a member of One Drink Minimum Book Club and didn't hear about the poll or otherwise have not been receiving Meetup messages, email one.drink.minimum.book@gmail.com and we'll be happy to add you to our mailing list. Your email address will remain private as we send all messages blind cc.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 2017 THURBER PRIZE FOR AMERICAN HUMOR • 2017 NAACP IMAGE AWARD FOR DEBUT AUTHOR AND FOR BIOGRAPHY / AUTO-BIOGRAPHY • NAMED ONE OF THE “BEST BOOKS OF 2017” BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, NEWSDAY, ESQUIRE, NPR, AND BOOKLIST

Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.

Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.

The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.

— description from the publisher Random House

“By turns alarming, sad and funny . . . not just an unnerving account of growing up in South Africa under apartheid, but a love letter to the author’s remarkable mother.” — Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“Noah’s childhood stories are told with all the hilarity and intellect that characterizes his comedy, while illuminating a dark and brutal period in South Africa’s history that must never be forgotten.” — Esquire

“[Noah’s] electrifying memoir sparkles with funny stories . . . and his candid and compassionate essays deepen our perception of the complexities of race, gender, and class.” — Booklist (starred review)

Attendance policy: Please be considerate of others!

• RSVP: Sign up if you plan to attend.
• Cancellations: If you need to cancel, please update your RSVP as soon as possible.
• Attendance: Show up if you are on the “Going” list.
• Emergencies: If a last-minute emergency arises, please communicate as soon as you can.
• Consequences: Repeated lack of consideration may result in removal from the group.

Available in local libraries:

The results are in! The winner of our poll - and the book we will discuss on November 5, 2025 - is Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir. We used STAR Voting again this month, and twenty-three members voted in the poll. Of our four book choices, The Humans and Project Hail Mary received the most stars in the scoring round and advanced to the runoff round. In the runoff round, five people ranked the finalists equally, The Humans received eight votes, and Project Hail Mary received ten votes. Thank you to everyone who voted!

If you are a member of One Drink Minimum Book Club and didn't hear about the poll or otherwise have not been receiving Meetup messages, email one.drink.minimum.book@gmail.com and we'll be happy to add you to our mailing list. Your email address will remain private as we send all messages blind cc.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • HUGO AWARD FINALIST • NAMED ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST BOOKS BY: Bill Gates, GatesNotes, New York Public Library, Parade, Newsweek, Polygon, Shelf Awareness, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal • New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

— description from the publisher Penguin Random House

“Readers may find themselves consuming this emotionally intense and thematically profound novel in one stay-up-all-night-until-your-eyes-bleed sitting. An unforgettable story of survival and the power of friendship—nothing short of a science fiction masterwork.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Brilliantly funny and enjoyable . . . one of the most plausible science fiction books I’ve ever read.”
— Tim Peake, ESA astronaut and internationally bestselling author of Limitless

“Reading Project Hail Mary is like going on a field trip to outer space with the best science teacher you’ve ever had—and your class assignment is to save the world. This is one of the most original, compelling, and fun voyages I’ve ever taken.”
— Ernest Cline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ready Player One

Attendance policy: Please be considerate of others!

• RSVP: Sign up if you plan to attend.
• Cancellations: If you need to cancel, please update your RSVP as soon as possible.
• Attendance: Show up if you are on the “Going” list.
• Emergencies: If a last-minute emergency arises, please communicate as soon as you can.
• Consequences: Repeated lack of consideration may result in removal from the group.

Available in local libraries, however: Project Hail Mary is extremely popular right now and library copies are finite! Depending on the library and the format you prefer, you may need to place a hold on the book at your library and wait for your turn to read it, so please check your library ASAP: