At this month’s book club, our conversation wandered delightfully across genres, languages, and even galaxies. Some members were charmed by classic Japanese literature like Good Morning, Lemon and Night on the Galactic Railroad, with nods to the beloved anime Galaxy Express 999. Nostalgia brought us back to animated staples like The Little Mermaid and Snow White, as well as the cozy but surprisingly divisive Paddington. We reflected on Disney’s retellings—especially Maleficent—and how they subvert traditional fairy tale tropes.
Literary detours took us into postmodernism with Pynchon’s Inherent Vice and Virginia Woolf’s famously disorienting To the Lighthouse. Darker themes surfaced with Rescue Distance, Dürrenmatt’s haunting The Minotaur, and discussions of Greek mythology’s labyrinthine symbolism. The group also dove into myths and philosophy, chatting about Cronus, Zeus, chaos, and how ancient beliefs shaped modern storytelling.
The meeting wrapped with a few personal anecdotes—writing struggles, reading in second languages, dreams about math, and the desire to rediscover reading for pleasure.
If you want to join us, next meeting is on the 7th of May!