Tender & Strange Book Club in DC

### This Month’s Theme: Obsession

Our first meeting explores the messy intersection of love, identity, and self-worth through Megan Nolan’s acclaimed debut, Acts of Desperation.
A searing exploration of obsession and desire, the novel examines the fragile boundaries between love and dependency. Through its intimate narrator, Nolan reveals how the search for connection can become entangled with questions of identity, vulnerability, and the ways we measure our own worth.

### About Tender & Strange

Tender & Strange is a monthly book club for readers drawn to emotionally rich contemporary fiction. Together, we read novels centered on complex, often unconventional characters whose choices invite conversation rather than easy judgment.
Our selections delve into themes such as identity, relationships, family, queerness, belonging, or loneliness.

### Meeting Details

• Date: Monday, August 31
• Time: 6:30–8:00 PM
• Location: Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 401-G Conference Room

Whether you’re looking to meet fellow readers, discover exceptional contemporary fiction, or simply spend an evening in thoughtful conversation, we’d love to have you join us.

### Up Next

• September: The Coin — Yasmin Zaher (Desire)
• October: Intermezzo — Sally Rooney (Intimacy)
• November: Small Things Like These — Claire Keegan (Courage)
• December: The Safekeep — Yael van der Wouden (Secrets)

### This Month’s Theme: Desire

Our September discussion centers on The Coin, Yasmin Zaher’s bold and unforgettable debut, a novel that explores the uneasy relationship between desire, identity, and belonging.
Sharp, unsettling, and darkly funny, The Coin follows a young Palestinian woman whose relentless pursuit of beauty, control, and material perfection masks a deeper longing for certainty and connection. Zaher examines how desire can become both a source of ambition and a force of self-destruction, asking what happens when we seek fulfillment in all the wrong places.

### About Tender & Strange

Tender & Strange is a monthly book club for readers drawn to emotionally rich contemporary fiction. Together, we read novels centered on complex, often unconventional characters whose choices invite conversation rather than easy judgment.
Our selections delve into themes such as identity, relationships, family, queerness, belonging, or loneliness.

### Meeting Details

• Date: Monday, September 28
• Time: 6:30–8:00 PM
• Location: Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 401-G Conference Room

Whether you’re looking to meet fellow readers, discover exceptional contemporary fiction, or simply spend an evening in thoughtful conversation, we’d love to have you join us.

### Up Next

• October: Intermezzo — Sally Rooney (Intimacy)
• November: Small Things Like These — Claire Keegan (Courage)
• December: The Safekeep — Yael van der Wouden (Secrets)