Novel Reading

📚 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.

### **The Greenbelt Chapter** **Where curiosity meets community.** The **Greenbelt Book Club** is a welcoming neighborhood gathering dedicated to exploring diverse perspectives through the power of literature. Whether you’re a lifelong reader or looking to rediscover the joy of books, we offer a space for meaningful dialogue and connection. *** ### **What to Expect** Our gatherings are casual, engaging, and centered on shared discovery. Every month, we dive into new selections—ranging from contemporary fiction and historical deep-dives to thought-provoking non-fiction. * **The Discussion:** We move beyond simple "likes" and "dislikes" to explore the themes, characters, and bigger questions each book raises. * **The Atmosphere:** Expect a low-pressure environment where every voice is valued. You don’t need to be a literary critic to participate; you just need an open mind. * **The Connection:** We are all about building local friendships. It’s a great way to meet neighbors who share a love for learning and storytelling. *** ### **Meeting Details** * **When:** Every **Wednesday and Friday** * **Time:** 5:00 PM * **Where:** 9200 Edmonston Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770 *** ### **How to Join** Joining is easy! Simply show up at our meeting location at the times listed above. No long-term commitment is required—feel free to drop in for a single session to see if it’s a good fit for you, or join us every week. **We can’t wait to turn the page on a new adventure with you!**

It is irresistible to enjoy German, French, Korean, Amharic, Italian, Spanish, what not:) convo. The Event is open to all levels of these languages from novice to native fluency. ***GRAB A DRINK AND YOU ARE ALL SET TO FLEX YOUR LANGUAGE CAPACITY. YOU NEED TO GET AT LEAST A DRINK OR FOOD :) To get the event going and show support. We know that you like our events. P.S. : We have non-alcoholic drinks as well.*** We have a tiny venue and we hit capacity often and early arrival is suggested. We have the discretion to decide entry. We will give out name tags. You write your name and what language you speak and what language you would like to exchange. All languages are welcome! However we don't guarantee the availability of a partner in that particular language, you would like to exchange. Rules to abide : 1\. Event is free and 21\+ \(bring ID\)\. 2\. Be respectful to your counterparts and give them a chance to exchange with others as well\. 3\. We all are native speakers of one or two languages and be willing to help others and try to accommodate as much as possible\. 4\. If you don't speak the other person's required language\, LEAVE THEM ALONE\. 5\. Rude or aggressive members are removed from the group at an organizers discretion\. 6\. This is a face\-to\-face language exchange event\. DO NOT try to arrange an online meeting\, by using the comment box or direct message\. 7\. Most of our members complained about people writing in the comment box\. Since it sends notification to all attendees\. If you have any questions\, send a message to the organizers\. Don't write in the comment box\. 8\. We have ZERO TOLERANCE for solicitation\. We don't allow anyone to run their own agenda at the Event\. If you are interested to promote/sponsor/collaborate; contact us via \(info@merevents\.com\)\. 9\. When you get there\, we will greet you and take you to your respective group\. 10\. Don't be shy of your local languages\. We have diplomates assigned to different countries\, who would love to practice your languages\. 11\. Be patient for the first 30 minutes\, up until we form your respective language group\. 12\. We will have a registration station and check you in\. 13\. This is mainly a social for Intermediate/Advanced/Native Speakers. It is not as such to learn a language. Beginners, if you want to learn a language, reach out to us ([info@merevents.com](http://info@merevents.com/)). We have a school and will arrange you a class. ***AFTER THE HAPPY HOUR, WE HIT THE DANCE FLOOR! BRING YOUR DANCING SHOES, WE WILL DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY!*** [) [) [) [) [) [)

Let's kick off our Friday night with a fun stroll through one of DC’s best local events and neighborhood — the **[Dupont Circle ArtWalk](https://dupontcirclebid.org/events/artwalk-dupont)**! On the first Friday of each month from 6:00–8:00 p.m., art galleries, embassies, and cultural centers around Dupont Circle open their doors for a free, self-guided gallery walk. **5:30 PM:** Let’s meet up at the bar at **[Kramers](https://www.kramers.com/menu/happy-hour)** (1521 Connecticut Avenue NW - two doors up from the bookstore entrance) while everyone arrives. **6:00 PM:** We’ll head out to soak in some art, explore the neighborhood, and enjoy the evening together. Here's a suggested itinerary: * Church of Scientology - National Affairs Office (It's not scary - they don't try to recruit you or anything. They showcase the work of several contemporary artists, and it's in a historic mansion.) * **[Vika Gallery](https://vikagallery.org/)** * **[Washington Center of ADA Art Gallery](https://adawdc.org/en/view/23/28/spring_2026_exhibition)** * **[Alex Gallery](https://www.alexgalleries.com/alex-gallery)** * **[Studio Gallery](https://www.studiogallerydc.com/)** * **[IA&A at Hillyer](https://athillyer.org/exhibition-statuses/upcoming/)** **7:30 PM:** We can grab dinner from a local fast casual place. I'm partial to **[Tiki Taco](https://www.tikitacodc.com/)**, but please feel free to share suggestions in the comments! The closest Metro station is Dupont Circle (take the north entrance). The closest bus stops are the D74 and D96 at Connecticut Avenue and Q Street NW. There are a few parking garages around the circle.

🎾 Welcome to Tennis Lovers DMV 3+ 🎾 Organizers may remove members from the group if unable to play at a 3.0 level. Please be able to serve, rally, and play points at close to a 3.0 level. The organizer may ask players to sit out if they do not play at a proficient level as the other members. Thank you. This group is for intermediate & advanced players 💪 with a USTA NTRP rating of 3.0+ ⭐ We thrive on competitive doubles 🔥🤝 and invite you to join us and RSVP ✅ for our exciting meetup events! Let’s rally, compete, and have a blast — see you on the court soon! 🎾😄🏆

**Click** [here ](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/patio-social-for-neurodivergent-adults-tickets-1990579924138)**for non-members to register and submit your info for the activity.** **[Constellations ](https://www.harringtonmatchmaking.com/constellations-membership)Patio Social + community lore activity** in Arlington, Virginia. This will be a relaxed patio social for neurodivergent adults (most will be 20s/30s) focused on conversation and meeting new people through a low-key activity. Participate in our “Community Lore” activity — a social scavenger hunt-style game designed to make mingling feel easier and spark better conversation. Before the event, attendees will submit a few fun facts, unusual skills, niche interests, and/or random details about themselves. We use these anonymous submissions to create the activity cards. When guests arrive, anyone who wants to participate will receive a card featuring fun facts submitted by other attendees. As you mingle throughout the evening, you’ll try to figure out which person matches each item on your card. We’ll have reserved patio seating, casual games, complimentary appetizers, and drinks available for the group. Alcoholic beverages and additional food or entrees can be purchased individually. While we do have reserved patio seating, this may not be the best fit for individuals who are highly sensitive to noise or busy environments. **Click [here](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/patio-social-for-neurodivergent-adults-tickets-1990579924138 ) for non-members to register and submit your info for the activity.**

You must read the following NVHC Sign-in Sheet Statement/Liability Disclaimer, **[https://nvhc.com/signin.pdf](https://nvhc.com/signin.pdf)** and then answer the question that you will see when you RSVP with "**I Accept"** to be permitted on the hike. **7.9 mile Out-Back hike with 417 feet of elevation gain. Est. 4 hr. We will get take the [Potomac Heritage Trail](https://www.nps.gov/pohe/index.htm) along the Potomac River to [Donaldson Run](https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Departments/Parks-Recreation/Locations/Parks/Donaldson-Run-Park).** **Description:** This fun hike starts out at the **[Roosevelt Island](https://www.nps.gov/this/index.htm)** parking lot (Rosslyn We follow the **[Potomac Heritage Trail](https://www.nps.gov/pohe/index.htm)** which overlooks the **Potomac River**. This is a “**rugged**” hiking trail with beautiful waterfalls and amazing views but it features steep, rocky scrambles and is muddy after rain. **[Windy Run](https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Departments/Parks-Recreation/Locations/Parks/Windy-Run-Park)** is the first point of interest before reaching **[Donaldson Run](https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Departments/Parks-Recreation/Locations/Parks/Donaldson-Run-Park)**; both offer the ability to exit the trail to local neighborhoods. We will exit the trail and follow **[Donaldson Run](https://tinyurl.com/nvhcdogpolicy)** to Military Road. ***There is a lot of maneuvering along this trail: several stream crossings, rock scrambles, need to navigate over trunks.*** **You must be experienced in hikes of this level of challenge, distance, pace and elevation gain.** **Hike Pace**: Pace will be about **2** to **2.5 mph**. **Bring:** Adequate water/hydration, snacks/lunch, and sturdy hiking shoes since there are stream crossings, rocky areas/tree roots.. Hiking poles if you normally use them. **Fee:** None **Dogs:** dogs are NOT welcome on this hike in accordance with the [NVHC Dog Policy](https://tinyurl.com/nvhcdogpolicy). **Where to Meet:** Meet at the **Rosslyn** end of the **Roosevelt Island parking lot** at 9:00 to allow everyone to get signed in and ready to hike at 9:30 am. The Hatchback of my Honda Fit will be up. **By Metro** Roosevelt island is a 10-15 minute walk from the **Rosslyn** Metro station toward the **Key Bridge**. A short paved connecting trail leads downhill to the Roosevelt parking lot. A small green sign indicating Roosevelt Island at 0.25 mile on the right. **By Car** Drivers can only reach Theodore Roosevelt Island from the Virginia side of the river in the northbound lanes of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. After Memorial Bridge, follow the signs and turn right into the parking lot. **Coordinates**: **38.8958415°N, -77.0624191°W** **[LINK to Roosevelt Island](https://maps.app.goo.gl/5zAGUtpjj1Qd5MQ39?g_st=im)** **[TOPO MAP](https://www.topozone.com/district-of-columbia/district-of-columbia-dc/park/theodore-roosevelt-island-national-memorial/)**

This meeting will be dedicated to talking about the entirety of "The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea" and New Direction's "Death in Midsummer" short story collection, both by Yukio Mishima https://www.ndbooks.com/book/death-in-midsummer/ The current list of short stories we will be focusing on is "Patriotism" and "Death in Midsummer," list pending to change. 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.

Our June book will be The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Book summary: A struggling writer steals a dead student's brilliant idea and watches his success unravel into paranoia and danger.

We will meet outside as long as the weather is nice. If not, we will move inside. Look out for a comment the morning of each meeting with our exact location. As we are meeting in person, please remember to bring something to read as we usually spend some time sharing our current reads and/or reading when meeting in person. As a reminder, there is no assigned reading; please bring whatever you are currently working on. This group is super casual, sometimes we read and sometimes we talk the whole time. **** NO SHOW POLICY: Due to the high number of members on the waitlist recently we are having to reinstate our no-show policy. If you sign up and no-show to 2 events you will be removed from the group. Reminders are provided weekly to change your RSVP to allow those on the waitlist a chance to come to the meet-up, no 3rd chances with be given. Please be considerate to your fellow members. Thank you! I look forward to reading you!

* We meet inside Zazzy * Bring something to read, as we often take some time at the beginning telling each other about what we're currently reading. * I have a favor to ask of you. To offset the cost of Meetup fees (\~$200 a year), I kindly request that you consider a small donation to my my [Pledge account](https://www.meetup.com/a-different-type-of-book-club-arlington/#pledge). 😊 **NOTE: NO DISCUSSION OF POLITICS: 12/31/21 UPDATE** For the sake of polite company, moving forward, we will avoid the discussion of politics at meetings of the book club. Please let me know if you have any questions. **NON-ATTENDANCE / NO-SHOW POLICY** If you have said that you will attend this event, but no longer are able to attend, please kindly update your status to "Not Attending" so that someone on the waitlist is able to RSVP. **Because this Meetup group is popular, and typically has a waitlist, effective immediately, I'm instituting a two-event no-show policy. If you RSVP as "Attending" but do not show at two events, you will be removed from this Meetup group.** We look forward to seeing you! Best, Jay

📚 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.

With Christopher Nolan's film adaptation on the horizon, it's time for us to finally read one of the most iconic classics of Greek literature: Homer's *Odyssey*! We'll be reading the epic poem over the course of three meetings, starting with books 1-8, which introduce us to the situation on Odysseus's home of Ithaca and the first half of his long journey home from the Trojan War. I will be reading from the highly regarded [Lattimore](https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-odyssey-of-homer-richmond-lattimore/ca6dbb99680e7cd9) translation, but feel free to use whichever version you prefer. As usual, we will meet in the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in the **205-B Accessibility Room**, located on the second floor. Ask at the Center for Accessibility front desk if you are looking for us. See you there!

Come join us to discuss our July pick "Tusk Love" by Thea Guanzon! Book description: A merchant’s daughter who yearns for adventure gets more than she bargained for when she falls for a broodingly handsome stranger in this saucy romantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hurricane Wars. “A true delight of a book! Spicy and heartfelt—this one is a winner all around.”—Katee Robert, author of Neon Gods As the daughter of an ambitious merchant, Guinevere’s path has been predetermined: marry into a noble house of the Dwendalian Empire, raise her family’s station, and live quietly as a lordling’s obedient wife. But Guinevere longs for a life unbounded by expectations, for freedom and passion and adventure. Those distant dreams become a sudden reality when her caravan is beset by bandits, leaving her guards slain and Guinevere stranded alone on the dangerous Amber Road. Her only chance of survival is to travel alongside Oskar, the aloof half-orc who saved her during the attack. Unlike Guinevere, Oskar’s path is not so set in stone. With his mother dead and his apprenticeship abandoned, all that’s left is a long, lonely walk to a land he’s never seen to find family he’s never met. The last thing he needs is a spoiled waif like Guinevere slowing him down—even if the spark between them sizzles with promise. Despite his cold exterior, Oskar is brave and thoughtful and unlike anyone Guinevere has ever met. And while Guinevere may be sheltered, she brings out a softness in him that he has never dared to feel before. As the flames of their passion grow, they realize that soon they’ll need to choose between their expected destinations or their blossoming romance. Written by New York Times bestselling author Thea Guanzon at the behest of Critical Role’s Jester Lavorre, Tusk Love brings the most romantic story on Exandrian bookshelves to life.

**Our June novel is: *The Eights* by Joanna Miller** **This month’s novel is set during World War I. It’s a 20th-century historical fiction story about friendship and war, with coming-of-age elements and a slightly haunted tone. The book is 384 pages in print and 10 hours and 9 minutes on audiobook.** Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its one-thousand-year history, Oxford University officially admits female students. Burning with dreams of equality, four young women move into neighboring rooms in Corridor 8. Beatrice, Dora, Marianne, and Otto—collectively known as The Eights—come from all walks of life, each driven by their own motives, each holding tight to their secrets, and are thrown into an unlikely, unshakable friendship. Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place. Politically-minded Beatrice, daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way - and some friends her own age. Otto was a nurse during the war but is excited to return to her socialite lifestyle in Oxford where she hopes to find distraction from the memories that haunt her. And finally Marianne, the quiet, clever daughter of a village pastor, who has a shocking secret she must hide from everyone, even her new friends, if she is to succeed. Among the historic spires, and in the long shadow of the Great War, the four women must navigate and support one another in a turbulent world in which misogyny is rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War don’t always remain dead.

[Columbus library link to book](https://cml.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S105C3351321) Location: The Goat River South 219 S High St, Columbus, OH 43215 Street parking is free on Sundays [Menu](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/686d3ed16745133042482c5f/t/68ff654dbb03b96875430bde/1761568077220/all_brunch-20250311.pdf) Book summary: On a hot day in Bethlehem, a twelve-year-old Palestinian-American girl is yelled at by a group of men outside the Church of the Nativity. She has exposed her legs in a biblical city, an act they deem forbidden, and their judgement will echo on through her adolescence. When our narrator finally admits to her mother that she is queer, her mother's response only intensifies a sense of shame: 'You exist too much,' she tells her daughter. Told in vignettes that flash between the U.S. and the Middle East--from New York to Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine--Zaina Arafat's debut novel traces her protagonist's progress from blushing teen to sought-after DJ and aspiring writer.

Join us for Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn! Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the unsolved murder of a preteen girl and the disappearance of another. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story-and survive this homecoming.

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

Join us for our June Book Club gathering where we will come together to discuss [The Queer Principles of Kit Webb](https://catsebastian.com/the-queer-principles-of-kit-webb/) by Cat Sebastian in a safe and welcoming environment. Make new friends who share your passion for books and connect with fellow LGBTQ book enthusiasts.