Über uns
WARNING: There’s a scammer out there impersonating us, trying to get authors to pay a fee to get their book spotlighted in our book club. This is a scam – we would never ask anyone to pay us money to pick their book. We have nothing to do with this, don’t pay them anything. If this happens to you, please let us know!
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Welcome to UNREAD – the mostly utopian book club, happening virtually via Zoom. We strive to understand the complex new world around us better, through discussion and exchanging experiences. This book club is not focused on a particular genre, instead we alternate between novels and non-fiction books. We like sci-fi, eye-opening popular science and occasionally revel in the absurd, but don’t shy away from classics either.
The book club has been going strong since August 2017, with a core group of returning participants, but also new faces joining each time. Usually we end up being between four and twelve people who show up.
We discuss in English and/or German, depending on which languages are present. Don’t worry if you aren’t fluent … we’ll make it work! You definitely don’t need a literature degree to participate either! It’s important to us to listen to each other, to treat everyone with respect and to create an inclusive setting.
The book club meets digitally via Zoom – the link will be added to the event on the day it happens. It doesn’t matter if you have actually finished the book – everyone is welcome, as long as they have read at least a few pages and bring their impression.
Books we have read so far:
- “The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. LeGuin
- “Kafka on the Shore” by Haruki Murakami
- “Positioning” by Al Ries and Jack Trout
- “Borderliners” by Peter Høeg
- “Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari
- “Uncommon Type” by Tom Hanks
- “Homo Deus” by Yuval Noah Harari
- “Measuring the world” by Daniel Kehlmann
- “Why we sleep” by Matthew Walker
- “Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller
- “Invisible Women” by Caroline Criado Perez
- “Shikasta” by Doris Lessing
- “How to do Nothing” by Jenny Odell
- “The Testaments” by Margaret Atwood
- “Because Internet” by Gretchen McCulloch
- “Educated” by Tara Westover
- “You Look Like a Thing and I Love You” by Janelle Shane
- “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- “The Future We Choose” by C. Figueres, T. Rivett-Carnac
- “The Overstory” by Richard Powers
- “User Friendly” by Cliff Kuang
- “Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro
- “The New Breed” by Kate Darling
- “Dune” by Frank Herbert
- “I didn’t do the thing today” by Madeline Dore
- “The Ministry for the Future” by Kim Stanley Robinson
- “A Field Guide to Getting Lost” by Rebecca Solnit
- “The Wall” by Marlen Haushofer
- “Goodbye, Again” by Jonny Sun
- “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin
- “The Sixth Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert
- “The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet” by Becky Chambers
- “Everyday Utopia” by Kristen Ghodsee
- “Julia” by Sandra Newman
- “Doppelganger” by Naomi Klein
- “Moonbound” by Robin Sloan
- “Technofeudalism” by Yanis Varoufakis
- “Piranesi” by Susanna Clarke
- “Microcosmos” / “Symbiotic Planet” by Margulis + Sagan
- “A Door Into Ocean” by Joan Slonczewski
- “The Mushroom at the End of the World” by Anna Tsing
The next book is always decided on the spot at the meeting, by the people who attend, or afterwards here on meetup – so bring suggestions! These days we gravitate towards books by authors from underrepresented groups!
Kommende Veranstaltungen
2
•Online“What We Can Know” by Ian McEwan – let’s read and discuss!
OnlineWelcome back, readers! For this round we’ve chosen Ian McEwan’s novel “What We Can Know”. It comes fresh off the presses, having been released this September!
Here’s a brief summary:
> 2014: A great poem is read aloud and never heard again. For generations, people speculate about its message, but no copy has yet been found.
> 2119: The lowlands of the UK have been submerged by rising seas. Those who survive are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost.
> Tom Metcalfe, an academic at the University of the South Downs, part of Britain’s remaining island archipelagos, pores over the archives of that distant era, captivated by the freedoms and possibilities of human life at its zenith. When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the lost poem, a story is revealed of entangled loves and a crime that destroy his assumptions about people he thought he knew intimately well.
> What We Can Know is a masterpiece, a fictional tour de force that reclaims the present from our sense of looming catastrophe, and imagines a future world where all is not quite lost.
As always, you can find more information and reviews on the book’s GoodReads page.
Curious to join us? Order a copy at your local book shop or online:
- The book on Bookshop
- The book on Amazon
- Search for used copies on Abebooks (among them signed copies for < 100€)
An e-book is of course also available, along with audio versions and translations into various languages.
Our meeting is scheduled for December 16, 2025 and we usually discuss in English for 1.5-2 hours. You definitely don’t need a literature degree to participate! It’s important to us to listen to each other, to treat everyone with respect and to create a safe setting.
The discussion takes place virtually in Zoom and the meeting link will be added to this event on the day it happens. Just check back here half an hour before the meetup starts!
It doesn’t matter if you have actually finished the book or whether you’ve attended before – everyone is welcome, as long as you have read at least a few pages and bring your impression.
8 Teilnehmer
Vergangene Veranstaltungen
37
