Name: "The Night Watchman" (Atlanta)
Start: 2026-11-15T23:30:00.000Z
Location: Treeline Ansley

**FOOD UPDATE:** I will provide the following:
-wine
-hard seltzers
-chips
feel free to bring something other than those things to share :)
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**Carl Sagan** (Pulitzer Prize-winning astronomer, science communicator, and co-creator of the popular show *Cosmos*) wrote Contact ***Contact*** in 1985. Robert **Zemeckis** (director of *Back to the Future* and *Forrest Gump*) brought it to the screen in 1997. And threw in **Jodie Foster**. What more could you want?

The story follows radio astronomer Dr. Ellie Arroway as humanity receives its first apparent message from extraterrestrial intelligence. It uses that premise to explore scientific curiosity, faith, politics, loneliness, and the enormous question of what it would mean not to be alone in the universe.

We’ll **read the book separately and watch the movie together**—and then discuss each medium and the adaptation process. DM the host, Vaidehi, if you want a **free digital copy of the book**.

## Agenda

* 6:00–6:30 – Arrival, book-only discussion. Set up seats and food.
* 6:30–7:20 – Watch first third of film
* 7:20–7:35 – 15-minute intermission + “thoughts so far” discussion
* 7:35–8:25 – Watch second third of film
* 8:25–8:40 – 15-minute intermission + “thoughts so far” discussion
* 8:40–9:30 – Watch final third of film
* 9:30: Final group discussion comparing the novel and film

you can leave whenever you want! **try not to get here later than 6:30** because one of us will have to come let you in and will have to pause the movie.

Lit2Lens: a book+film club for adaptations!

Andy Meade

Vaidehi Mehta

sienna g

Alan Buttars

Tzvi

Bhuvaneshwari Ramaswamy

Paul Galva

Alexander Franko

sydney

Kevin

KB Sardeña 

Diane Weidner

Caleb Kennedy

[SOLD OUT] Contact (1997)

2480 North Milwaukee Avenue

Join Lit2Lens for a Halloween Party with *The Haunting of Hill House* and its classic horror film adaptation! (It's a super short book, only 200 pages!)

We'll provide Halloween-themed treats and libations, Halloween **trivia**, and even a **costume contest** with a prize -- so don your spookiest (or silliest) threads!

Although we will provide some refreshments, we encourage you to bring food/drink to share, in the 👻spirit👻 of Lit2Lens.
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**ABOUT BOOK/FILM:**
Shirley Jackson’s 1959 Gothic horror novel follows four strangers who gather at the notoriously sinister Hill House to investigate reports of supernatural activity. As strange incidents mount, the house seems to take a particular interest in Eleanor, a lonely and vulnerable young woman newly freed from years of caring for her mother.

Robert Wise (who also directed *The Sound of Music*, *West Side Story*, *The Day the Earth Stood Still*, and the first Star Trek movie) adapted Jackson’s story into the 1963 film *The Haunting* (1963). It's a masterwork of psychological horror that uses shadow, sound, and suggestion rather than explicit scares.

For a free digital copy of the book, text or DM the host, Vaidehi.
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**AGENDA**

* 6:30 pm — Arrive, settle in

* 6:45 pm — Book discussion: *The Haunting of Hill House*
* 7:20 pm — Costume contest: present your costume!
* 7:30 pm — Haunted Hollywood Trivia
* 8:00 pm — Screening: The Haunting, 1st half
* 9:00 pm — Intermission & reactions-so-far discussion
* 9:15 pm — Costume contest: winner announcement
* 9:20 pm — Screening: The Haunting, 2nd half
* 10:15 pm — Final book-and-film discussion

* Feel free to linger afterward—we may have a board game going for anyone who wants to hang out.

Lit2Lens: An Adaptation Book+Film Club

Pierce Collins

Devin

Kate

Azaz Ahsan

oishee.shemontee

Thomas Johnson

Denitria Barnett

Rekha

Lee Earnest

Janet Vrba

Ramana Balla

simrandelinde

Nicole Meredith

Edmond :)

Rose S

Izabella Counts

Evan Gutter

Halloween Party with "The Haunting of Hill House"

Treeline Ansley

(Atlanta only, not Chicago!)
For Native American Heritage Month, we're reading *The Night Watchman*, which won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

* Genre: Historical Fiction/Literary Fiction
* Author: Louise Erdrich
* Pages: \~450
* Year of publication: 2020

It's set in 1953 in rural North Dakota and Drawn from the life of Erdrich's own grandfather. Thomas Wazhashk, a night watchman at a jewel-bearing plant and a leader in the Turtle Mountain Chippewa community, fights a congressional bill that would end federal recognition of his tribe. Meanwhile, Patrice "Pixie" Paranteau, who works at the same plant, sets out for Minneapolis to find her missing sister.

**This will be a dinner potluck and BYOB. Please bring a dish, snack, or beverage to share, and [sign up for that on this Google sheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1v54nlP4FY9Vu9j-BvGH7K4jJFdRyknvc2UOMke9WUmc/edit?usp=sharing). Communications will be sent via Partiful text blast, so please [register at the Partiful event page](https://partiful.com/e/mdEvE0mjmC5iTw5BSLfg?c=9wlon8jS).**

For a free PDF of the book, message the host, Vaidehi.

No Beach Reads

mlwalker1491

Divya Joshi

"The Night Watchman" by Louise Erdrich

(Atlanta only, not Chicago!)
For Native American Heritage Month, we're reading *The Night Watchman*, which won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

* Genre: Historical Fiction/Literary Fiction
* Author: Louise Erdrich
* Pages: \~450
* Year of publication: 2020

It's set in 1953 in rural North Dakota and Drawn from the life of Erdrich's own grandfather. Thomas Wazhashk, a night watchman at a jewel-bearing plant and a leader in the Turtle Mountain Chippewa community, fights a congressional bill that would end federal recognition of his tribe. Meanwhile, Patrice "Pixie" Paranteau, who works at the same plant, sets out for Minneapolis to find her missing sister.

**This will be a dinner potluck and BYOB. Please bring a dish, snack, or beverage to share, and [sign up for that on this Google sheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1v54nlP4FY9Vu9j-BvGH7K4jJFdRyknvc2UOMke9WUmc/edit?usp=sharing). All communications will be sent via Partiful text blast, so please [register at the Partiful event page](https://partiful.com/e/mdEvE0mjmC5iTw5BSLfg?c=9wlon8jS).**

For a free PDF of the book, message the host, Vaidehi.

No Beach Reads: A Book Club

"The Night Watchman" (Atlanta)

vaidehi

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