What we’re about
A book club for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and queer people in Silver Spring and surrounding areas in MD and DC. We read a variety of genres, not limited to LGBTQ-themes, and meet once a month to discuss a book and socialize.
Started in May 2018, our book club is way to meet other LGBTQ people in the area for socializing and friendship, and of course to read and discuss books. As a group we read one book a month and then get together to talk about it. Members suggest books to read and we select upcoming books as a group. We read a variety of genres, primarily fiction — novels and short story collections — with the occasional non-fiction book or memoir. We're not limited to LGBTQ authors or themes, although we read those too. See this page for how our members have rated our recent books.
We hold the book discussions at members' homes, on a rotating but voluntary basis, and the host provides light snacks and drinks. We generally meet on the third Thursday of the month, and our locations are usually not within walking distance to the metro.
We're looking for members who want to actively attend discussions so please don't join if you're not interested in participating.
Upcoming events
2
Halloween / Day of the Dead party
Location not specified yetJoin us for a Halloween / Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) party at Jay's home in Silver Spring MD, when the veil between the living and dead is thin.
Costumes are encouraged! They don't have to be Day of the Dead themed.
We'll have finger food, a signature alcoholic drink and non-alcoholic beverages. If you like, please bring finger food, desserts, and any beverages to share.
We're going to have an ofrenda -- a Day of the Dead altar for the deceased. If you like you may bring a photo of a deceased loved one to add to the altar. Or feel free to send me a photo and I'll print it out -- jaycagle@mac.com
We'll have some great Halloween decorations and maybe a party game. Couples from the DC Metro LGBT Couples Meetup Group are also invited, and we've currently got 21 people attending! You're welcome to bring any Halloween loving friends, and you're welcome to attend even if you haven't been to any book club meetups yet.
5 attendees
The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar
Location not specified yetWe'll be discussing The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar. We meet in person at a member's home -- the address will be sent to those attending a week before the event.
Find the book on Bookshop.org, and at Montgomery County Public Libraries.
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Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction
Winner of the ALA Stonewall Book Award—Barbara Gittings Literature Award
Named Best Book of the Year by Bustle
Named Most Anticipated Book of the Year by The Millions, Electric Literature, and HuffPostFrom the award-winning author of The Map of Salt and Stars, a new novel about three generations of Syrian Americans haunted by a mysterious species of bird and the truths they carry close to their hearts—a “vivid exploration of loss, art, queer and trans communities, and the persistence of history. Often tender, always engrossing, The Thirty Names of Night is a feat” (R.O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries).
Five years after a suspicious fire killed his ornithologist mother, a closeted Syrian American trans boy sheds his birth name and searches for a new one. As his grandmother’s sole caretaker, he spends his days cooped up in their apartment, avoiding his neighborhood masjid, his estranged sister, and even his best friend (who also happens to be his longtime crush). The only time he feels truly free is when he slips out at night to paint murals on buildings in the once-thriving Manhattan neighborhood known as Little Syria, but he’s been struggling ever since his mother’s ghost began visiting him each evening.
One night, he enters the abandoned community house and finds the tattered journal of a Syrian American artist named Laila Z, who dedicated her career to painting birds. She mysteriously disappeared more than sixty years before, but her journal contains proof that both his mother and Laila Z encountered the same rare bird before their deaths. In fact, Laila Z’s past is intimately tied to his mother’s in ways he never could have expected. Even more surprising, Laila Z’s story reveals the histories of queer and transgender people within his own community that he never knew. Realizing that he isn’t and has never been alone, he has the courage to claim a new name: Nadir, an Arabic name meaning rare.
As unprecedented numbers of birds are mysteriously drawn to the New York City skies, Nadir enlists the help of his family and friends to unravel what happened to Laila Z and the rare bird his mother died trying to save. Following his mother’s ghost, he uncovers the silences kept in the name of survival by his own community, his own family, and within himself, and discovers the family that was there all along.
Featuring Zeyn Joukhadar’s signature “folkloric, lyrical, and emotionally intense...gorgeous and alive” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) storytelling, The Thirty Names of Night is a “stunning…vivid, visceral, and urgent” (Booklist, starred review) exploration of loss, memory, migration, and identity.
4 attendees
Past events
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