Book Swaps Los Angeles

Culver City Book Club! “Determined” by Robert Sapolsky

We will be meeting to discuss a chapter every week, from Robert Sapolsky’s “Determined”, to talk about concepts like free will and agency.

Book of May/June: Pale Fire

Join us for the first time or for the nth!


WHAT ARE WE READING? Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years “An ingeniously constructed parody of detective fiction and learned commentary, Pale Fire offers a cornucopia of deceptive pleasures, at the center of which is a 999-line poem written by the literary genius John Shade just before his death. Surrounding the poem is a foreword and commentary by the demented scholar Charles Kinbote, who interweaves adoring literary analysis with the fantastical tale of an assassin from the land of Zembla in pursuit of a deposed king.”


WHERE ARE WE READING?

4100 bar

There is no food served - but they do allow outside food and sometimes have a food truck.
Please feel free to comment with any questions. 







Everyone is welcome - whether you read the whole book or the back cover (but be prepared for spoilers if so), looking forward to seeing you all to talk about (hopefully) good books!

June Book Club - Strangers

June book club - Strangers by Belle Burden

Neuromancer- William Gibson

Book Discussion: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

Read s much as you can and let's discuss "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life, a 2016 nonfiction self-help book by American blogger and author Mark Manson.The book covers Manson's belief that life's struggles give it meaning and argues that typical self-help books offer meaningless positivity which is neither practical nor helpful. It was a New York Times and Globe and Mail bestseller. Critics have been quick to note that the apparent lack of sophistication in language and style of the book is a clever disguise for more serious value-related content of the book." - Wikipedia

Persuasion by Jane Austen (Rescheduled Date)

WHAT WE'RE READING: Persuasion by Jane Austen WHAT IT IS ABOUT: "*Persuasion*, Jane Austen's last novel, is a moving, masterly and elegiac love story tinged with the heartache of missed opportunities. It tells the story of Anne Elliot, who, persuaded to break off her engagement to the man she loved because he was not successful enough, has never forgotten him. When he returns, he brings with him a tantalizing second chance of happiness." WHERE WE'RE MEETING: 4100 Bar in Silver Lake A NOTE ON PARKING: Street parking should be more readily accessible on Sunset Blvd to the west of the meet-up location. A NOTE ON THE MEET-UP SEATING LOCATION: Meet-ups are generally held on the bar terrace, if sufficient seating is available. Please dress warmly in the event of cool evening weather! A NOTE ON RSVPING: If your name is on the attendee list for a scheduled meet-up and you no longer plan on attending the event, please remove your name from the attendee list at least a week before the scheduled event to allow individuals on the waitlist sufficient time to read the book beforehand (no worries if a cancellation has to be last-minute, though!). Happy reading! Colin

Book Club Meeting: Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

**Mocha Girls Read \| June Book Club Meeting** Join us for our June book club meeting as we come together to discuss our Monthly Book Selection, *Yellowface* by R.F. Kuang. This month, we are diving into a bold and thought-provoking story that explores authorship, identity, and the complexities of the publishing world. Whether you loved the book, had questions, or didn't even read it yet, your voice is welcome in this space. 📅 **Date:** Friday, June 6 ⏰ **Time:** 1:30 PM 📍 **Location:** Lore Bookstore 4334 Degnan Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90008 **About the Book** “Hard to put down, harder to forget.” — Stephen King White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences… Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American—in this chilling and hilariously cutting psychological thriller from R.F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel. Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars in the world of literary fiction. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks. So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I. So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree. But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves. With its totally immersive first-person voice from a masterfully crafted unreliable narrator, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable. **Parking:** Metered street parking is available. Parking across the street is typically the best option.

Queer Book Club- "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant"

CFI-West Skeptics Book Club

Join us for the CFI-West Skeptics Book Club monthly meeting! We meet both in person and on Google Meet. There's always a lively conversation, whether you've read the book or not (though... reading helps). June 17th's selection is "Micromégas" by Voltaire. You can get 15% off at Skylight Books if you mention our book club in the comments at checkout. The in-person meeting will be hosted at the Center for Inquiry West at 2535 W. Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026. Park in the lot off Rampart behind the building. The meeting is upstairs in the conference room. Bring any snacks you'd like to share! Virtual attendees, join us on Google Meet. Use this link: https://meet.google.com/sqd-ujpn-nhf Our future selections: July 22nd (note 4th Wednesday): Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke August 19th: The Pleasure of Finding Things Out by Richard Feynman

11th Anniversary T-Shirts!

Hello Redondo Beach Book Club, Happy (belated) 11th Anniversary! We turned 11 in March of 2026 and have created these t-shirts to commemorate our many years of reading together. The back of the shirt lists all 131 books we read in those 11 year (we intentionally skipped one month for our 10 year anniversary party last year). Price is $40 (or less depending how many orders we get). Posting here for the whole group and will bring the test-print to book club this week. Please comment here if you'd like one and in what size, or let us know Saturday. The plan is to place the final order June 6th. See you Saturdy! Faith & Angela

Light from Uncommon Stars IN PERSON at Aroma Cafe

Korean-English Language Exchange