Book Club: The Beach by Alex Garland ☀️🏝️

Whether you’re a true bookworm or simply seeking a motivation to get reading more often, the book club is a great place for conversation and meeting new people! Come and enjoy some interesting discussion alongside more relaxed chatter, with the book as the jumping off point.

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This time, we’ll be reading The Beach by Alex Garland. We follow Richard, a backpacker who is in Thailand searching for a legendary, idyllic, isolated beach untouched by tourists, and his time there in the backpacking community …🏝️🇹🇭

Described as "Lord of the Flies for Generation X" and "furiously intelligent", we'll be discussing themes like escapism, utopia and community dynamics in what The Sunday Times deemed “a white knuckle ride into the heart of darkness”! ☀️🤯

The book was adapted into a popular film in 2000 starring Leonardo DiCaprio 🎬. Garland has since established a prolific film career as a writer (28 Days Later 🧟‍♀️, Never Let Me Go) and director (Ex Machina 🤖, Annihilation 👽, Men), so this is also a chance to see where he began and compare the novel’s view on humanity to the ones presented in those works!

The Centurion is a relaxed, elegant and spacious bar with comfortable seating and a quiet atmosphere, well-suited to literary conversations! 📕🍷

Converted from the historic first class lounge at Central Station 🚂✨, its luxuriant environs are situated at ground floor level, easily accessible, with public transport links aplenty nearby. If you’re feeling peckish there are various shops adjacent that you can pick up nibbles from.

This is an open session, so feel free to drop by at any time during the evening: we’re pretty easygoing ☺️.

Hope you can join us 📚!