Reading

**[Circe](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35959740-circe) by Madeline Miller** 📖 393 pages Genre: Greek Mythology • Retelling • Literary Fiction **Summary:** Banished to a lonely island for daring to defy the gods, Circe grows up in the shadow of power she was never meant to wield. From the halls of Olympus to the shores of her exile, she encounters legendary figures, monsters, and mortals alike, slowly discovering her own strength in a world ruled by cruelty, pride, and divine politics. Richly atmospheric and deeply human, *Circe* reimagines Greek myth through the eyes of a woman finding her voice. It’s a story about transformation, loneliness, love, and choosing your own fate, even when the gods would rather you stay small. *** **Join Our Book Club Bingo! 🧿📚** For April, we’re diving into something mythic, emotional, and quietly powerful. Expect gods behaving badly, magic lessons gone wrong, and plenty of moments perfect for ticking off your Bingo card. **How It Works:** 🧿 **Grab Your Bingo Card:** Filled with gods, monsters, curses, banishments, and iconic mythological moments. ✅ **Mark Your Cards:** Check off squares as we discuss characters, themes, favorite scenes, and retellings of familiar myths. 🎉 **Shout “Bingo!”** Be the first to complete two rows, columns, or diagonals. 📚 **Win a Book:** Two readers will leave with a new addition to their TBR pile! Expect witches, legends, morally questionable immortals, and one woman rewriting her story. 📍 **The Dog on Surrey Street, Croydon** 📅 **15th of April** at **7:00 PM**

**Agenda:** * 6:30 pm - 7:00 pm: Introduction and housekeeping * 7:00 pm - 8:15 pm: Book discussion * 8:15 pm - 8:30 pm: Next books

Let's read Modern Standard Arabic together and help each other. This get-together continues weekly. Please disregard attendee numbers, as most members come without registering here. There is no charge for this time together.

Join us to watch Project Hail Mary in the Vue Leicester Square. We read the book for sci-fi month back in 2023 so let's go see it on the big screen. I've booked seat G13 for the 6:30pm showing on 15th April. Hope to see some of you there!

**This event is supported by The Royal Institute of Philosophy’s [Local Partners Programme](https://royalinstitutephilosophy.org/news/fund-your-event/).** **N.B. this meeting will be held in person in the Prince of Wales pub near Covent Garden. There is also an online session held on Thursday if you are not in London or are not able to attend in-person.** Our 'Quest' theme returns to the magical and otherworldly. Our second 'children's story' of the year that is also a collection of myths, fairy stories and a reflection on the immense power of stories - this one written at a particular pivotal point in the author's life. We will take a fantastical journey with Haroun and his father Rashid, who was once a great storyteller, as they try to recover his lost powers. The meeting starts at 7pm with drink breaks at 8 and 9. The discussion will end around 10pm, but leave whenever you need to. Here's the blurb from goodreads.com Set in an exotic Eastern landscape peopled by magicians and fantastic talking animals, Salman Rushdie's classic children's novel *Haroun and the Sea of Stories* inhabits the same imaginative space as *Gulliver's Travels, Alice in Wonderland,* and *The Wizard of Oz*. In this captivating novel, Haroun sets out on an adventure to restore the poisoned source of the sea of stories. On the way, he encounters many foes, all intent on draining the sea of all its storytelling powers. **Our confirmed 2026 books are:** * January - The Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin * February - The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway * March - The Bell, Iris Murdoch * April - Haroun and Sea of Stories, Salman Rushdie * May - Journey to the West/Monkey - Weng Cheng-En * June - The Odyssey, Homer

The first rule of WRITE CLUB is that you do not talk ***during*** WRITE CLUB. This very simple meetup is based on the premise that public and peer accountability enables more productive writing than sitting at home and getting distracted by the fridge. We will write/read for an hour in silence. (I will be writing thought experiments for my other meetup group: [THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS](https://www.meetup.com/thought-experiments-in-pubs)) If you'd like to hang out afterwards, or if you prefer just to hang out, I have another event immediately afterwards in the same place :-) You can find that here: [HANGING OUT AT THE SOUTHBANK](https://www.meetup.com/experimentsin/events/313686740) And if you'd like to finish the evening with a dance, there is a free social salsa meetup just outside The Southbank Centre just afterwards. More info [here](https://www.instagram.com/salserosfriends/). **This event will take place in the foyer of The Southbank Centre.** You can find us by looking out for: * A tote bag with WRITE CLUB sewn onto it * My T-Shirt, which will have HANGING OUT embroidered on the back of it * A big red flag with THE SUNRISE CLUB emblazoned on it (though this clearly isn't THE SUNRISE CLUB! If you want to find out about that, you can do so [here](https://www.meetup.com/the-sunrise-club/).) * Other writers - who may be spread out across the centre. They will have white pieces of paper with the WRITE CLUB stamp at the top of the page. There are plenty of places to buy refreshments, but you can also bring your own if you prefer. [WHATSAPP GROUP](https://chat.whatsapp.com/BpMwnRev0H237KMx4uPnek) [INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/experimentsingroupwisdom) [SUBSTACK](https://experimentsingroupwisdom.substack.com/) Looking forward to meeting and writing with you :-) Bonny

Hello, This event is for anyone who enjoys reading and wants to do it in the quiet company of others. We’ll be reading together in complete silence no pressure to talk, just bring whatever you’re reading and settle in. When you arrive, grab a drink from the café if you like, find a comfy spot, and start reading. We’re usually there for about 2 hours, but feel free to come and go whenever it works for you. Looking forward to meeting you! Dee

We will be meeting at The Racketeer! We will divide into smaller groups to discuss this month's book. It will be very obvious when you arrive to the pub, where our group is, but please feel free to give me a call if you are struggling to find us. For new members, shoot me a message on meetup and I will send through my phone number!

Hello! If you haven't seen much of me of late it's because I have been busy writing a book! My Guide to the Great Themes in Art is a compendium of many themes that concern us today, painted across the centuries by some great artists. Love & Marriage, Body, Health, War, Faith, Nature, Identity, Food are just some of the themes that you may find interesting. The book will be published early next year and in advance of that I am inviting you to an illustrated talk and a reading from the book ( combined with an optional Sunday roast dinner ! ) at Hotel Indigo London Clerkenwell 2 Clerkenwell Rd, London EC1M 5PQ Places are limited, so book [here](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-mona-lisa-and-other-housewives-a-guide-to-the-great-themes-in-art-tickets-1983974779974?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl) soon but do also rsvp here so that I know you are coming Hope to see you if you happen to be in London... Lydia

*Etre ici est une splendeur* de Marie Darrieussecq est la biographie de Paula M. Becker. (160 pages) Réfléchi, saisissant et nécessaire. Un livre sur une artiste qui devient une œuvre d’art en soi, et qui attire l’attention sur la persistance de l’altérité et de l’exclusion dans lesquelles évoluent les femmes artistes. Intéressé à la lecture en espagnol, en anglais ou à la littérature perse ? : -www.meetup.com/gaia-books -www.meetup.com/gaia-libros -www.meetup.com/persian-culture -French Art Group (envoyez-moi une demande) -Instagram: @persian_culture_

Welcome, readers! Our April read is **_Martyr!_ by Kaveh Akbar.** The story follows a young Iranian American poet grappling with grief, addiction, and the aching question of what makes a life meaningful. Drawn into an unexpected friendship with a terminally ill artist, he begins to confront faith, love, and the seduction of self-destruction. Lyrical, darkly funny, and emotionally piercing, the novel wrestles with beauty and despair in equal measure. It’s a story about longing—to be seen, to be forgiven, and to matter. 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! 📖

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! 📖

Posting this early because seemingly all Sundays in May are holidays or busy! I picked a shorter thriller that's hopefully a fast read/listen. [Columbus library link to book](https://cml.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S105C3458940) Location: Grandview Cafe, *1455 W. 3rd Ave*, Columbus, OH 43212 [Menu](https://www.grandviewcafe.com/menu) Book summary: Daniel leads a rich life in the university town of Athens, Georgia. He's got a couple close friends, a steady paycheck working for a regional airline, and of course, for a few glorious days each Fall, college football tailgates. He considers himself to be a mostly lucky guy -- despite the fact that he's suffered from a debilitating disease since he was a small child, one that has left him unable to speak or to move without a wheelchair. Largely confined to his home, Daniel spends the hours he's not online communicating with irate air travelers observing his neighborhood from his front porch. One young woman passes by so frequently that spotting her out the window has almost become part of his daily routine. Until the day he's almost sure he sees her being kidnapped.

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.