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.

Looking for clarity about your career? Love life? HOA dispute over that grass that's 1/16th of an inch too long? Come by Cameron Cafe from 5-7 pm for a free tarot reading from the irreverent Joe Blow Tarot deck to find your way forward. Instead of cards about Pentacles and Empresses, this deck has cards like, "Florida Man" and "Post-coital awkwardness". If the reading resonates with you, we only ask that you pay it forward by showing up for someone who needs you this week. Free parking is available on Cameron Station Boulevard and Somervelle Street, and we just ask that you support our host with a purchase. Their coffee, pastries and smoothies are incredible, FWIW. See you on Tuesday!

Weekly Bible study currently reading through the Gospel of Luke. We meet at Teaism in Penn Quarter. You can find us in the downstairs seating area!

Join us for another optional writing session! Feel free to bring a project you're already working on or start something new with us. If anything interesting comes up while you're writing, you can share it with the group, but no pressure!

Alexandria Pints & Pawns is now part of the Chess on Tap community! If you have a travel chess set and/or clock, please bring them so we can be sure to accommodate everyone. If not, feel free to come anyway!

[Profs and Pints DC](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“Torture in the Middle Ages,”** with Larissa “Kat” Tracy, visiting assistant teaching professor of English at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and author or editor of ten books on medieval violence. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-torture-middle-ages](https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-torture-middle-ages) .] When *Pulp Fiction*’s Marsellus Wallace vows to “get medieval” on someone we assume that they’re in for some serious pain. Torture—that most notorious aspect of medieval culture and society—more recently has been portrayed in popular culture in series like G*ame of Thrones* and *Vikings*, through lurid scenes depicting torture and gruesome punishment as standard medieval practice. In many modern European cities one can find popular museums displaying such gruesome implements as the rack, the strappado, the gridiron, the wheel, and the iron maiden. The dominant mythology suggests that the Middle Ages was a period during which sadistic torment was inflicted on citizens with impunity and without provocation. The truth, however, is a lot more complicated. Join Professor Larissa “Kat” Tracy, who has extensively researched torture, punishment, and social justice in medieval society, for a talk challenging preconceived ideas that popular historians, films, and media have promoted about the prevalence of torture and judicial brutality in medieval society. She’ll discuss medieval Europe’s actual use of torture—the instruments, the laws, the cultural norms, and the victims—and make clear that the act of punishment was actually a very different legal event. She’ll argue that the portrayals of medieval torture in literature represent satire, critique and dissent; they have didactic and political functions in opposing the status quo. The books that Professor Tracy has written or edited include *Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature*; *Castration and Culture in the Middle Ages*; *Medieval and Early Modern Murder*; *Flaying in the Premodern World*, and most recently *End Game: Exile and Execution in Medieval and Early Modern Society*. When she gets medieval on you it means you are going to learn. The experience, however, won’t be painful at all. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: Torture instruments on display at Prague Castle. Photo by Clayton Tang / Wikimedia Commons.

**Coffee. A Sunday morning. A table of people who get it.** **NoVA Single Parents Village is a new group for single parents in Northern Virginia who want actual community — not advice, not a support group, not a dating app in disguise. Just people navigating the same messy, meaningful reality who could use a few more faces that understand it.** **The first meetup is at Caboose Brewing in Mosaic District. No agenda. No icebreaker games. Show up, grab a drink, and talk to people who know what it’s like to be doing this largely on their own.**

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

Join us to discuss The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow! We will be meeting at the Ballston Quarter food court, look for the table sign with iur group logo. The discussion will start promptly at 3, please arrive early to find us and make any food purchases.

📚 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.

📚 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.

Join us for lunch/tea at Asterisk Supper Club to discuss our May book "Under the Oak Tree" by Suji Kim Lady Maximilian is the daughter of the powerful Duke Croyso, but she is rarely allowed outside her family’s sprawling castle for fear that her stutter will tarnish their noble name. When she is forced to marry Sir Riftan, a lowborn knight caught in one of her father’s schemes, Maxi doesn’t dare hope for happiness, let alone love. Her stumbling communication and his gruff manner sour their relationship before it can begin, and Riftan leaves without a word the morning after their vows are exchanged. Now, three years after their disastrous wedding night, Riftan has returned as a war hero. To Maxi’s surprise, despite rumors that he was offered marriage to Princess Agnes, a beautiful and renowned sorceress, Riftan still wants Maxi for his wife. And when he comes to claim her, his longing becomes a desire that bewilders Maxi, even as she is overcome by the scorching heat that Riftan’s presence ignites within her. As she learns to navigate the intricacies of her new life, Maxi will find herself and her courage, and discover that she is anything but powerless.

**Our May novel is: *The Quiet Librarian* by Allen Eskens** **This month’s book is set in the 20th century and mixes historical fiction with suspense and thriller elements. It also centers on women’s stories and relationships. The novel is 368 pages in print or 8 hours and 12 minutes on audiobook.** Hana Babic is a quiet, middle-aged librarian in Minnesota who wants nothing more than to be left alone. But when a detective arrives with the news that her best friend has been murdered, Hana knows that something evil has come for her, a dark remnant of the past she and her friend had shared. Thirty years before, Hana was someone else: Nura Divjak, a teenager growing up in the mountains of war-torn Bosnia—until Serbian soldiers arrived to slaughter her entire family before her eyes. The events of that day thrust Nura into the war, leading her to join a band of militia fighters, where she became not only a fierce warrior but a legend—the deadly Night Mora. But a shattering final act forced Nura to flee to the United States with a bounty on her head\*\*.\*\*

This month we’ll be ready Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett. Feel free to come and chat even if you don’t finish the book!

Calling all founders, CEOs, lawyers, doctors, and entrepreneurs to join our special *Founder Edition* of Sip & Read meetup event. Let's sip on fine wine and discuss our first book **The 5AM Club- Own Your Morning Elevate Your Life, by Robin Sharma**. We will pair this book with our favorite wine at **Wine on High** and engage in thought-provoking discussions on startup businesses and entrepreneurship, and network with like-minded individuals in a cozy book club setting. Come prepared to discuss this month's book. At the end of each book club meeting, we will take next book and venue suggestions from the participants for the next meeting. Whether you are a book lover, women entrepreneur, or a content creator, this event is perfect for sharing ideas and insights with other funders and founders in the entrepreneurial world. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to connect, learn, and grow together. Sign up now to reserve your spot! *Fun fact! This meetup was established in 2015 and had over 1,000 members. I had to shut down operations while attending law school, but we're back!!*

Join us for our May Book Club gathering where we will come together to discuss *[Cantoras](https://caroderobertis.com/books/cantoras/)*[ ](https://caroderobertis.com/books/cantoras/)by [Caro de Robertis](https://caroderobertis.com/bio/) in a safe and welcoming environment. Make new friends who share your passion for books and connect with fellow LGBTQ book enthusiasts.