Online Queer Book Club (formerly East Bay Queer Book Club)

(*** Meetings are always on the 2nd Sunday of the month)

This month we will read and discuss "Sphinx" by Anne Garréta.

Book Description:
"Sphinx is the remarkable debut novel, originally published in 1986, by the incredibly talented and inventive French author Anne Garréta, one of the few female members of Oulipo, the influential and exclusive French experimental literary group whose mission is to create literature based on mathematical and linguistic restraints, and whose ranks include Georges Perec and Italo Calvino, among others.

A beautiful and complex love story between two characters, the narrator, "I," and their lover, A***, written without using any gender markers to refer to the main characters, Sphinx is a remarkable linguistic feat and paragon of experimental literature that has never been accomplished before or since in the strictly-gendered French language.
Sphinx is a landmark text in the feminist and LGBT literary canon appearing in English for the first time."

***

Please join us for some good discussion and social time. The night of the event you will be able to access the discussion using the provided link. Please be advised that you will need to have a Zoom account set-up and logged in to participate. We encourage all attendees to experiment with the platform before the event, if you have any questions please contact one of the organizers in advance and we will do our best to assist you.

There is never any pressure to have the book completed (or read at all) in order to participate. We would just love to have you, and it can be enjoyable to hear about the book and talk to some cool people.

***

Book Selection:

At this meeting we will take recommendations for future book club reads. Please spend some time beforehand thinking of any books that might be appropriate for the group to read. The only criteria is that any book recommended should be written by a queer individual and/or contain queer subject matter and/or characters. However, it is highly encouraged that books offered for consideration be representative of diverse perspectives and communities.

Before making a suggestion, please take a moment to check the list of books previously read by this group to make sure your selection can be considered:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aN4BaPn1buIHZ1lryih4lMduPt4ShEIdaQLCyea3okQ/edit?usp=sharing

(*** Meetings are always on the 2nd Sunday of the month)

This month we will read and discuss "The Very Nice Box" by Eve Gleichman and Laura Blackett.

Book Description:
"Ava Simon designs storage boxes for STÄDA, a slick Brooklyn-based furniture company. She’s hard-working, obsessive, and heartbroken from a tragedy that killed her girlfriend and upended her life. It’s been years since she’s let anyone in.

But when Ava’s new boss—the young and magnetic Mat Putnam—offers Ava a ride home one afternoon, an unlikely relationship blossoms. Ava remembers how rewarding it can be to open up—and, despite her instincts, she becomes enamored. But Mat isn’t who he claims to be, and the romance takes a sharp turn.

The Very Nice Box is a funny, suspenseful debut—with a shocking twist. It’s at once a send-up of male entitlement and a big-hearted account of grief, friendship, and trust."

***

Please join us for some good discussion and social time. The night of the event you will be able to access the discussion using the provided link. Please be advised that you will need to have a Zoom account set-up and logged in to participate. We encourage all attendees to experiment with the platform before the event, if you have any questions please contact one of the organizers in advance and we will do our best to assist you.

There is never any pressure to have the book completed (or read at all) in order to participate. We would just love to have you, and it can be enjoyable to hear about the book and talk to some cool people.

***

Book Selection:

At this meeting we will take recommendations for future book club reads. Please spend some time beforehand thinking of any books that might be appropriate for the group to read. The only criteria is that any book recommended should be written by a queer individual and/or contain queer subject matter and/or characters. However, it is highly encouraged that books offered for consideration be representative of diverse perspectives and communities.

Before making a suggestion, please take a moment to check the list of books previously read by this group to make sure your selection can be considered:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aN4BaPn1buIHZ1lryih4lMduPt4ShEIdaQLCyea3okQ/edit?usp=sharing

(*** Meetings are always on the 2nd Sunday of the month)

This month we will read and discuss "Cantoras: A Novel" by Carolina De Robertis.

Book Description:
"In 1977 Uruguay, a military government crushed political dissent with ruthless force. In this environment, where the everyday rights of people are under attack, homosexuality is a dangerous transgression to be punished. And yet Romina, Flaca, Anita "La Venus," Paz, and Malena—five cantoras, women who "sing"—somehow, miraculously, find one another. Together, they discover an isolated, nearly uninhabited cape, Cabo Polonio, which they claim as their secret sanctuary. Over the next thirty-five years, their lives move back and forth between Cabo Polonio and Montevideo, the city they call home, as they return, sometimes together, sometimes in pairs, with lovers in tow, or alone. And throughout, again and again, the women will be tested—by their families, lovers, society, and one another—as they fight to live authentic lives.

A genre-defining novel and De Robertis's masterpiece, Cantoras is a breathtaking portrait of queer love, community, forgotten history, and the strength of the human spirit. At once timeless and groundbreaking, Cantoras is a tale about the fire in all our souls and those who make it burn."

***

Please join us for some good discussion and social time. The night of the event you will be able to access the discussion using the provided link. Please be advised that you will need to have a Zoom account set-up and logged in to participate. We encourage all attendees to experiment with the platform before the event, if you have any questions please contact one of the organizers in advance and we will do our best to assist you.

There is never any pressure to have the book completed (or read at all) in order to participate. We would just love to have you, and it can be enjoyable to hear about the book and talk to some cool people.

***

Book Selection:

At this meeting we will take recommendations for future book club reads. Please spend some time beforehand thinking of any books that might be appropriate for the group to read. The only criteria is that any book recommended should be written by a queer individual and/or contain queer subject matter and/or characters. However, it is highly encouraged that books offered for consideration be representative of diverse perspectives and communities.

Before making a suggestion, please take a moment to check the list of books previously read by this group to make sure your selection can be considered:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aN4BaPn1buIHZ1lryih4lMduPt4ShEIdaQLCyea3okQ/edit?usp=sharing