Book Club

The action begins with a bloody shootout as police unsuccessfully try to capture criminals involved in illegal bitcoin transactions. The female officer in charge of the operation is blamed for its failure, and she vows to capture the computer genius who runs the bitcoin hacking ring. She recruits an assortment of shady but skilled characters while developing an absurdly complex scheme to infiltrate the illicit organization. For a while the movie has an “Oceans Eleven” flavor as the team executes intricate and precisely timed actions to further the effort in luxurious hotels and estates. Nonetheless, most of the participants are thieves, so hidden identities, secrets, and double-crosses will provide plenty of surprises. ■ Title — *Bitcoin Heist* ■ A.K.A. — *Siêu Trộm* ■ Director — Ham Tran ■ Cast — Nhung Kate, Thanh Pham, Petey Majik Nguyen ■ Unrated, suitable for teens and adults ■ ©2016 \| 1h 50m \| Action\, Comedy\, Crime ■ Vietnamese and Korean dialogue with English subtitles ■ Watch it free with ads on Fawesome: https://fawesome.tv/movies/10711899/bitcoin-heist ■ Watch it free with ads on Tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/619622/bitcoin-heist ■ Available free without ads to Hoopla subscribers: https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11895665 ■ As with most of our online features, you can watch this one whenever you like. Members who watch at the scheduled time may enjoy exchanging comments with other members on this page. If you post a comment before the show, please avoid spoilers. Comments posted after the show may contain any content, but Oddball Cinema encourages members to always avoid spoilers unless there’s some particularly important details you need to mention. ■ Many of the movies on our online events from as far back as March 2020 are still available for viewing. However, titles sometimes move from one streaming service to another. If you find that the links on an old event no longer work, you can search for the current providers of any title here: https://justwatch.com

Another writing session. Look for the guy with the laptop from the photo! (We'll be in the room with the big tables) New members very welcome!

This 1962 historical fiction novel, about the life and last days of the titular Artemio Cruz, is considered a milestone of the Latin American Boom that brought us writers such as Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It explores the corruption of Cruz, a former soldier in the Mexican Revolution, by power. Interestingly, the structure of the book is heavily influenced by "Citizen Kane," with Fuentes attempting literary versions of such film techniques as cross-cutting, closeups, and deep focus.

Calling all Crew Members! 🚢 BBaddies On A Track! We will be meeting at 6am to hit the track. We will do a warm up and then a few drills and sprints on the track! We will also have fun and be in community!

📚 Do you love reading, but wish you had a structure and a community to share your insights with? Join our small circle of curious minds (just 4 members per gathering) as we come together for an hour of focused reading—in the calm setting of a library or the cozy atmosphere of a café. Here’s how it works: First part: Quiet reading on your own—bring a book you’re exploring, whether it’s philosophy, history, psychology, literature, or anything meaningful to you. Second part: We regroup and each person shares key takeaways, insights, or questions sparked by their reading. This sparks a structured yet free-flowing conversation around ideas, perspectives, and personal reflections. Why join? Add structure to your reading habit. Discover new books, authors, and ideas through others’ choices. Build real connections by sharing and listening deeply. Socialize around something meaningful instead of small talk.

This month's meeting (May) will be on Quarantine, by Greg Egan. This book deals with a big beautiful huge wall built around the solar system, and some sort of quantum mumbo jumbo about alternate worlds and particles (or waves?) and probably a superposition or two. Who built the wall? Hard to say. Did they make Earth pay for it? Not to my knowledge. Is it big enough to be seen from space? Yes, probably, until observed or measured, at which point it behaves more like a map of the state of New York I assume. LOCATION NOTE: This meeting is scheduled to take place at Micky's Soju House (8450 Baltimore National Pike unit 125, Ellicott City, MD 21043).

This meeting will be dedicated to talking about the entirety of "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin Due to recent high popularity of our meetings, we will be having a temporary moratorium new members until a level of member cultivation has occurred. We estimate this will be around July 1st. We will be meeting in the National Portrait Gallery Atrium. To stay up to date with events and discuss meetings or books, you can join our Discord group. Please message me to get added.

Please join us for the May Romance Book Discussion Club! Location is at my apartment in Dupont. Address and details will be provided to attendees closer to the meeting. Also, please update your RSVP by 6pm the day before, if you're unable to come. That will allow people on the waitlist to have enough time to consider coming, as well. Looking forward to discussing romance books with you all! **Information for New Members:** Each month we will vote on a subgenre and trope to guide our reading choices. There will be a voting link shared in the discussion board with 1 week to vote on your top choices. I'll then post the votes for that month and people can share recommendations. These are just for inspiration and as general themes. There is no set book - you're welcome to read whatever you like, although many members find it fun to explore new subgenres or tropes and see what you may like or hate. This is a book club for mood readers :) You're welcome to read whatever you fancy and come discuss it. Hopefully you'll leave with some new recommendations - or books you know are not your cup of tea. Please feel free to post below or message me with any questions.

Join us for our May Meetup @ Solid State Books! We'll be reading Kin by Tayari Jones. Two motherless girls grow up as best friends and neighbors, but go on to live radically different lives. We'll discuss the themes of family, womanhood and friendship in this compelling novel.

Here’s proof that a movie made of clichés can be good if produced by the right people. The setting is a secret lab. An agent of “the corporation” – dressed in black, of course – arrives to assess the results of its program. Scientists give worried responses, sometimes alluding to a disaster at another lab. The object of everyone’s focus is an artificially-engineered humanoid, and in an early scene the female creature reveals the violence of which she’s capable. Such projects never turn out well, and it’s easy to guess how this one will end. However, with the likes of Anya Taylor-Joy, Michelle Yeoh, Toby Jones, Kate Mara, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Paul Giamatti playing the main roles in a tightly written and directed feature, it’s easy to overlook the familiar formula and enjoy the action. ■ Title — *Morgan* ■ Director — Luke Scott ■ Cast — Kate Mara, Anya Taylor-Joy, Paul Giamatti, Michelle Yeoh ■ Rating — R ■ ©2016 \| 1h 32m \| Action\, Horror\, Sci\-Fi\, Thriller ■ Distributed by 20th Century Fox

***Venue Notes:*** *The venue will be updated by EOD May 20 when we can get a better sense of the weather. We will either be at the Garden in Del Ray (100% outdoor venue) or La Madeleine in Kingstowne.* https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43890641-hamnet Drawing on Maggie O'Farrell's long-term fascination with the little-known story behind Shakespeare's most enigmatic play, *Hamnet* is a luminous portrait of a marriage, at its heart the loss of a beloved child. Warwickshire in the 1580s. Agnes is a woman as feared as she is sought after for her unusual gifts. She settles with her husband in Henley street, Stratford, and has three children: a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet and Judith. The boy, Hamnet, dies in 1596, aged eleven. Four years or so later, the husband writes a play called Hamlet. Award-winning author Maggie O'Farrell's new novel breathes full-blooded life into the story of a loss usually consigned to literary footnotes, and provides an unforgettable vindication of Agnes, a woman intriguingly absent from history. A *New York Times* Notable Book (2020), Best Book of 2020: *Guardian*, *Financial Times*, *Literary Hub*, and *NPR*.

Welcome, readers! Our May read is **_Kindred_ by Octavia E. Butler.** The story follows Dana, a Black woman living in 1976 California, who is suddenly pulled back to a Maryland plantation before the Civil War. She learns her survival is tied to a white slaveholder’s son. Forced to move between centuries, she must endure the brutal realities of slavery while fighting to hold on to her identity. Tense, intimate, and unforgettable, Kindred explores how the past refuses to stay buried. Looking forward to discussing with everyone! We will meet at Zaftig Brewing Co in their event room in the back. We are welcome to bring in our own food, but **drinks must be purchased at the bar.** Happy reading! 📖

Let’s meet and share discussion of the James Baldwin short story collection, Going to Meet The Man.

Welcome, readers! Our June read is ***Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible*** ***Voyage*** **by Alfred Lansing.** A work of nonfiction, and one of the most astonishing survival stories in history, we follow Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew after their ship is crushed by Antarctic ice. Stranded in one of the harshest environments on Earth, the men endure months of isolation, freezing temperatures, and near starvation—yet refuse to give up hope. Lansing brings their ordeal to life through vivid detail and firsthand accounts, capturing both the brutality of nature and the resilience of the human spirit. At its core, the story is a powerful testament to leadership, perseverance, and the unbreakable will to survive against impossible odds. Looking forward to discussing with everyone! We will meet at Zaftig Brewing Co in their event room in the back. We are welcome to bring in our own food, but **all** **drinks must be purchased at the bar.** Happy reading! 📖

If you enjoy knitting, crocheting, working with yarn, this is the group for you. Meet new friends, bring your projects, learn from others.
We normally meet a few times a month during the week from 6-8pm. We will occasionally meet on weekends during daytime hours.