Book Drives San Francisco

Book 88: Brother Bronte by Fernando Flores

I saw this on a New York Times list of recommended books and thought it looked interesting. According to their review, “Fernando A. Flores’s new novel imagines a bleak world where books are illegal and deprivation is the norm. It’s a blast.” Excited to dive into this one with you all! -Jessica \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- **How it works:** We’ll meet at a local brewery for some drinks and conversation. Finishing the book is not a requirement to attend—as long as you don't mind spoilers! We’ll have an unstructured, informal discussion of the book and the themes that the book brings up. We hope to see you there! \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- Two women fight to save their dystopian border town―and literature―in this gonzo near-future adventure. The year is 2038, and the formerly bustling town of Three Rivers, Texas, is a surreal wasteland. Under the authoritarian thumb of its tech industrialist mayor, Pablo Henry Crick, the town has outlawed reading and forced most of its mothers to work as indentured laborers at the Big Tex Fish Cannery, which poisons the atmosphere and lines Crick’s pockets. Scraping by in this godforsaken landscape are best friends Proserpina and Neftalí. One of Three Rivers’ last literate citizens, Neftalí hides and reads the books of the mysterious renegade author Jazzmin Monelle Rivas, whose last novel, Brother Brontë, is finally in Neftalí’s possession. But after a series of increasingly violent atrocities committed by Crick’s forces, Neftalí and Proserpina, with the help of a wounded Bengal tigress, three scheming triplets, and an underground network of rebel tías, rise up to reclaim their city―and in the process, unlock Rivas’s connection to Three Rivers itself. An adventure that only the acclaimed Fernando A. Flores could dream up, Brother Brontë is a mordant, gonzo romp through a ruined world that, in its dysfunction, tyranny, and disparity, feels uncannily like our own. With his most ambitious book yet, Flores once again bends what fiction can do, in the process crafting a moving and unforgettable story of perseverance.

June Book Club: Go As a River by Shelley Read

ABOUT THE BOOK Seventeen-year-old Victoria Nash runs the household on her family’s peach farm in the small ranch town of Iola, Colorado—the sole surviving female in a family of troubled men. Wilson Moon is a young drifter with a mysterious past, displaced from his tribal land and determined to live as he chooses. Victoria encounters Wil by chance on a street corner, a meeting that profoundly alters both of their young lives, igniting as much passion as danger. When tragedy strikes, Victoria leaves the only life she has ever known, fleeing into the surrounding mountains, where she struggles to survive in the wilderness with no clear notion of what her future will bring. As the seasons change, she also charts the changes in herself, finding in the beautiful but harsh landscape the meaning and strength to move forward and rebuild all that she has lost, even as the Gunnison River threatens to submerge her homeland—its ranches, farms, and the beloved peach orchard that has been in her family for generations. Inspired by true events surrounding the destruction of the town of Iola in the 1960s, Go as a River is a story of deeply held love in the face of hardship and loss, but also of finding courage, resilience, friendship, and, finally, home—where least expected. This stunning debut explores what it means to lead your life as if it were a river—gathering and flowing, finding a way forward even when a river is dammed.

Book, Coffee, Chit Chat, etc. (Tuesday Edition)

ATTENTION: We are now meeting in person again! Please follow current recommendations around mask usage to keep everyone safe. Masks are always welcome and accepted, no matter the current regulations. If you'd like to meet online check out our meeting on the first Wednesday of every month. It's that time again! Let's chit chat about the books we exchanged last time and welcome newcomers bringing their first book. If you've been before you know the deal, otherwise just bring a book to share and expect to say both a few words about it and why you want to share it.

June Meeting: Zadie Smith - Grand Union

**Recommended Stories:** * The Lazy River * Two Men Arrive in a Village * Kelso Deconstructed Excited to dive into this collection, which was a narrow second to Octavia Butler in the last poll. See you soon! **For First-Timers:** We recommend reading at least one story, but feel free to read as little or as much as you'd like! Discussion is open, informal, and we try to focus on the recommended stories listed above. **About the Author:** Zadie Smith (born 1975) is a critically acclaimed British novelist, essayist, and professor. Born in North London to an English father and a Jamaican mother, Smith has become a leading voice in contemporary literature, celebrated for her sharp cultural commentary and exploration of identity.

Read in the park: 4th meetup

Grab your book, a blanket, and come read with us in Golden Gate Park 📚 ​Read in the Park is a laid-back, in-person gathering for people who love books and good company. No agenda, no book club assigned reading, just show up with whatever you're currently reading and spend a couple of hours outside with like-minded people. ​Our first event brought together 20+ readers and it was honestly everything. So we're doing it again. ​**What to bring:** ​→ Your current read - physical book, Kindle, or audiobook → A blanket or something to sit on → A jacket! SF weather is unpredictable and Golden Gate Park can get windy → Snacks if you want *** ​**What should I expect?** ​2:00 PM → Arrive, find a good spot, get settled 2:00–3:00 PM → We read! Settle in, get cozy, enjoy the park 3:00–4:00 PM → Conversations - get to know each other, share what you're reading or listening to, swap book recommendations, and chat about genres you love 4:00 PM → Wrap up, linger, make new friends *** ​**Who's invited?** ​Anyone who loves books, being outside, and meeting good people. Lots of folks came solo to our first event, don't be shy, you'll fit right in! *** ​**What about parking?** ​Golden Gate Park on a Saturday can get busy! We recommend arriving by 1:30–1:45 PM if you're driving. Free street parking is available in the area but spots fill up fast. Public transit is also a great option. *** ​**Will this event be photographed?** ​Photos and short video clips may be taken for promotional purposes. By attending, you consent to being photographed. If you'd prefer not to be in photos, just let us know when you arrive and we'll make sure to respect that!

Books Not Bans presents Queer Book Cocktail and Reading Hour

# Cocktails, reading and book swap! **Be amongst your fellow book people! All welcome. Bring a book for the book swap.**

Calling all book lovers!

Calling all book lovers! Unplug and join us on the beach with a book you would like to read. Don't forget your book, beach chair/towel, mask, and a bottle of water. While we love to watch children run and play, it's an adults only kind of day. We will be on Alameda Beach (Shore Line Drive between Fair Haven Road and Sand Beach Road). Directions From Oakland: https://goo.gl/maps/77XFVvLqJa72 From San Francisco: https://goo.gl/maps/9fYAbGc7ozo From San Jose: https://goo.gl/maps/6wdEuX8K9xA2

Books Not Bans presents Queer Book Cocktail and Reading Hour

May 2026 Book Discussion: Aftertaste - Daria Lavelle

The results are in! The book we'll be reading and discussing for our May meetup is: Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle. ***Summary***: Konstantin Duhovny is a haunted man. His father died when he was ten, and ghosts have been hovering around Kostya ever since. Kostya can’t exactly see the ghosts, but he can taste their favorite foods. Flavors of meals he’s never eaten will flood his mouth, a sign that a spirit is present. Kostya has kept these *aftertastes* a secret for most of his life, but one night, he decides to act on what he’s tasting. And everything changes. Kostya discovers that he can reunite people with their deceased loved ones—at least for the length of time it takes for them to eat a dish that he’s prepared. He thinks his life’s purpose might be to offer closure to grieving strangers, and sets out to learn all he can by entering a particularly fiery ring of Hell: the New York culinary scene. But as his kitchen skills catch up with his ambitions, Kostya is too blind to see the catastrophe looming in the Afterlife. And the one person who knows Kostya must be stopped also happens to be falling in love with him. Set in the bustling world of New York restaurants and teeming with mouthwatering food writing, *Aftertaste* is a whirlwind romance, a heart-wrenching look at love and loss, and a ghost story about all the ways we hunger—and how far we’d go to find satisfaction. Lavelle’s debut is a multi-course tasting menu of a book that will sate, delight, excite, comfort, and inspire even the pickiest of readers.

2nd Saturday "Not quite a book club" in the Richmond District

Show up having read a book\* you want to talk about. Get a beverage and/or food inside the cafe. We will probably meet outside in Bazaar Cafe's back garden.\*\* (The garden is accessible through an alley. There is a door to the alley next to the register inside. You can also go directly to the back garden from the street via the alley entrance on the right side of the right Cafe window.) Once you've spotted the group, we will introduce ourselves and have a brief period of chit chat. Then we will go around our group each talking about the (different!) books we read. Afterwards, you are welcome to stick around and chat. If you have a physical book you are done reading and want to offer other folks in the group, you are welcome to do that, but there is absolutely no obligation to do so. \*Any book! Could be a graphic novel, or non-fiction, or fiction, or a mystery or a romance novel or SciFi or Fantasy! \*\*If it is raining or a really bad air day from wildfires, it may be too crowded inside Bazaar Cafe to find a table, although it was raining during a few meetings early last year and the Bazaar cafe folks helped me stake out a table. In the event of rain and no space inside, I will probably move the event a few blocks away to Ilana Coffee or Royal Ground Coffee on Clement. I will message the group if we meet inside or if the location moves to another coffee shop.

Literary Devices: Writers and Hackers for Noisebridge!

San Francisco Writers Workshop collaborates with our hacker friends to raise funds for everyone's favorite local makerspace: Noisebridge! Several of our best authors will produce stories/poems/word-based constructs. Each will share their literary product with a hacker, who will respond with a device/app/gadget/doohickey inspired by the writing. On the night of the event, audience members will vote for the device that best complements the assigned writer's piece. The winning hacker will receive a prize of dubious value! Expect delicious snackies, and other fun additions: in the past we've included a fun raffle!

Oakland BYO Book Club (First timers welcome & introvert friendly)

[Partiful RSVP Link](https://partiful.com/e/QhsDvRSK0DuRTDARtuS8?c=gnGz0WkE) On Tuesdays, we have a book club with a twist. Bring any book you are currently working on or want to start. We spend the first part reading in silence together (until about 8:15 pm) and the last part discussing what we are each reading, what inspired our reading choices, and a nugget from what we read. 📕 Great way to learn about new topics, books, authors, and about each other with our rich discussions 🧠 😌 Newcomers welcome and Introvert-friendly. An Oakland Muslim Bookclub gathering — bringing Muslims together through books, conversation, and adab. Partifull RSVP (we have an average of 5-15 regulars who attend bookclub weekly, most rsvps are via Partiful): [Partiful RSVP Link](https://partiful.com/e/QhsDvRSK0DuRTDARtuS8?c=gnGz0WkE)