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Update May 2026: we're transitioning to a new platform and will be leaving Meetup in July. Make sure to create your account on our new platform to get updates on our current and new events at:
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Do you like reading classic novels or poetry? Each month we will select a classic work and have an in-person discussion around it. Anything from Austen to Zola is fair game.
Naturally, the definition of "classic" is subjective. A good collection of free, public domain ebooks can be found here. Classic of course doesn't necessarily need to be public domain, or even "old", but it would be best to have some convenient way to read it without requiring a purchase. Luckily the Stockholm public library has a very good collection of novels in English.
The discussion will be in English; being classics however, most (if not all) of the works we'll read will have a Swedish translation, and they will typically be available at the public library.
The works will be chosen by committee, so if there's a particular book you'd like to read, that can probably be accommodated.
Upcoming events
2
Kallocain by Karin Boye
Kungsholmens Bibliotek, vid S:t Eriksplans (T), Stockholm, SEFor this event you need to book your spot (for free) via the Kungsholmens library website
https://biblioteket.stockholm.se/evenemang/classic-literature-bookclub-4The real count of attendees is on the library website. You're welcome to bring your own fika.
We meet in the study room on the 2nd level of the library, ask staff if unsure.Karin Boye was a prominent Swedish writer in the first half of the twentieth century. Outside of Sweden she is known primarily for her 1940 dystopian novel Kallocain.
From Goodreads: “This is a novel of the future, profoundly sinister in its vision of a drab terror. Ironic and detached, the author shows us the totalitarian World-state through the eyes of a product of that state, scientist Leo Kall. Kall has invented a drug, kallocain, which denies the privacy of thought and is the final step towards the transmutation of the individual human being into a 'happy, healthy cell in the state organism.' For, says Leo, 'from thoughts and feelings, words and actions are born. How then could these thoughts and feelings belong to the individual? Doesn't the whole fellow-soldier belong to the state? To whom should his thoughts and feelings belong then, if not to the state?'
As the first-person record of Leo Kall, scientist, fellow-soldier too late disillusioned to undo his previous actions, Kallocain achieves a chilling power and veracity that place it among the finest novels to emerge from the strife-torn Europe of the twentieth century.”
There are several copies available at the Stockholm public library. SVT produced a miniseries in 1981; available (in Swedish) on SVT play.
9 attendees
Dune by Frank Herbert
Haga Tårtcompani & Bageri Mariatorget, Swedenborgsgatan 4B, Stockholm, SEchanged venue for the event
Haha Tårtcompani & Bageri Mariatorget Swedenborgsgatan 4BOur Meetup account will close in July. Create your account on our new platform for further updates on this one and future events https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6138360/join/d4e15359
Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)
From Goodreads
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for...When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined.
Frank Herbert wrote 6 books in the Dune series and his son continued writing, you only need to read the first book of the series for the Meetup but are welcome to read more if interested.
Several copies available at the Stockholm city council library3 attendees
Past events
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