What we’re about
The Common Reader Salon is a place for thoughtful people who want to read great books slowly, openly, and together. Our aim is not to “cover” a book in a single meeting, summarize it, or lecture about it. Instead, we move through each work at a steady, reflective pace — reading closely, returning to the text, and letting its questions meet our own.
We treat literature not as an academic exercise, but as a way to explore the human condition. Each session is built around honest conversation: we wrestle with themes, follow our curiosity, and let the text provoke reflection rather than consensus. There are no experts in the room, no required interpretations, and no pressure to have the “right” answer.
Our discussions draw on the principles of the Shared Inquiry approach:
- we stay grounded in the text,
- we ask open-ended questions,
- we listen generously,
- and we allow meaning to emerge from the group rather than from authority.
This salon is for readers who want to encounter books as living companions — as sources of insight, tension, beauty, and challenge. If you enjoy reading deeply, thinking quietly, and speaking honestly in good company, you’ll fit right in.
Potential Readings for 2026:
## JAN–APRIL: Paradise and the Human Condition : John Milton – Paradise Lost
## MAY–AUG: Striving, Bargaining, Becoming : Goethe – Faust (Part I, and selected sections of Part II)
## SEPT: Shakespearean Bridge : Macbeth or Tempest
## OCT: Gothic and the Modern Self : Mary Shelley – Frankenstein
## NOV–DEC: The Nineteenth Century Conscience : Dostoevsky – Demons (or The Devils) or Tolstoy – The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Upcoming events
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