What we’re about
Welcome to UNREAD – the mostly utopian book club, happening virtually via Zoom. We strive to understand the complex new world around us better, through discussion and exchanging experiences. This book club is not focused on a particular genre, instead we alternate between novels and non-fiction books. We like sci-fi, eye-opening popular science and occasionally revel in the absurd, but don’t shy away from classics either.
The book club has been going strong since August 2017, with a core group of returning participants, but also new faces joining each time. Usually we end up being between four and twelve people who show up.
We discuss in English and/or German, depending on which languages are present. Don’t worry if you aren’t fluent … we’ll make it work! You definitely don’t need a literature degree to participate either! It’s important to us to listen to each other, to treat everyone with respect and to create an inclusive setting.
The book club meets digitally via Zoom – the link will be added to the event on the day it happens. It doesn’t matter if you have actually finished the book – everyone is welcome, as long as they have read at least a few pages and bring their impression.
Books we have read so far:
- “The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. LeGuin
- “Kafka on the Shore” by Haruki Murakami
- “Positioning” by Al Ries and Jack Trout
- “Borderliners” by Peter Høeg
- “Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari
- “Uncommon Type” by Tom Hanks
- “Homo Deus” by Yuval Noah Harari
- “Measuring the world” by Daniel Kehlmann
- “Why we sleep” by Matthew Walker
- “Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller
- “Invisible Women” by Caroline Criado Perez
- “Shikasta” by Doris Lessing
- “How to do Nothing” by Jenny Odell
- “The Testaments” by Margaret Atwood
- “Because Internet” by Gretchen McCulloch
- “Educated” by Tara Westover
- “You Look Like a Thing and I Love You” by Janelle Shane
- “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- “The Future We Choose” by C. Figueres, T. Rivett-Carnac
- “The Overstory” by Richard Powers
- “User Friendly” by Cliff Kuang
- “Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro
- “The New Breed” by Kate Darling
- “Dune” by Frank Herbert
- “I didn’t do the thing today” by Madeline Dore
- “The Ministry for the Future” by Kim Stanley Robinson
- “A Field Guide to Getting Lost” by Rebecca Solnit
- “The Wall” by Marlen Haushofer
- “Goodbye, Again” by Jonny Sun
- “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin
- “The Sixth Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert
- “The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet” by Becky Chambers
- “Everyday Utopia” by Kristen Ghodsee
- “Julia” by Sandra Newman
- “Doppelganger” by Naomi Klein
The next book is always decided on the spot at the meeting, by the people who attend, or afterwards here on meetup – so bring suggestions! These days we gravitate towards books by authors from underrepresented groups!
Upcoming events (1)
See all- “Moonbound” by Robin Sloan: Let’s read and discuss!Link visible for attendees
Welcome back, readers! This time we’re returning to our sci-fi roots, reading Robin Sloan’s just-released novel “Moonbound”. I mean, just look at that cover, how could we pick anything else?!
Drew Broussard over on LitHub has this to say:
> Summer, for me, demands adventure—and Robin’s Sloan’s new one is a riff on the classic SFF adventure novels of my childhood, right down to the 70s-pulp cover. It blends elements of science fiction and fantasy (really leaning into Arthur C Clarke’s classic axiom that “sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”) to create a joyful shout of a book about sentience, humanity, and… well, magic.
> It’s set about 11000 years in the future on an Earth somehow crossed between post-human and pre-industrial Arthurian civilization (it’s shaping up to be a summer of Arthur; more on that below) with sentient yeast strains, beaver societies, wizards powerful enough to stop a heart with a single word, AI dragons who’ve destroyed most of civilization and built a palace on the moon, and so much more. It’s an epic novel, deeply curious about the possibilities of our future and the ethics of how we might get there, but it never loses sight of the fact that reading ought to be fun. Put this one alongside “His Dark Materials” and Ursula K. Le Guin’s “Earthsea” books.
Sounds delightfully absurd and very Sloan-y. The author has his own punchy synopsis:
> The year is 13777. There are dragons on the moon.
He also has a mini-site about the book with tons of accompanying material – do check it out! Even more information can be found on the book’s GoodReads page, where it currently holds a commendable rating of 4.19.
Curious? Then order a copy at your local book shop or online:
This one comes hot off the presses, so there are no translated versions or paperbacks available yet. A cheaper ebook variant exists, but the hardback is fairly expensive at around 25 euros/dollars. If you want to participate, but can’t afford to spend this much on the book, then get in touch and we’ll figure something out!
The meeting is scheduled for September 10th and we usually discuss in English, for 1.5-2 hours. You definitely don’t need a literature degree to participate! It’s important to us to listen to each other, to treat everyone with respect and to create a safe setting.
The discussion takes place virtually in Zoom and the meeting link will be added to this event on the day it happens. Just check back here half an hour before the meetup starts!
It doesn’t matter if you have actually finished the book – everyone is welcome, as long as you have read at least a few pages and bring your impression.
