Book Swaps Los Angeles

Book Discussion: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

Read as much as you can and then let's meet up to discuss our thoughts on the book One Hundred Years of Solitude. "Gabriel García Márquez's most famous book is "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (1967), a multi-generational saga about the Buendía family in the fictional town of Macondo. It is widely considered his masterpiece, a quintessential example of magical realism, and one of the best novels of the 20th century, having sold over 30 million copies worldwide. Plot: The novel chronicles the rise and fall of the Buendía family over a century, filled with epic events, love affairs, and magical occurrences. Significance: It is praised for its innovative narrative structure and its profound exploration of Latin American identity, often cited as a work that compresses the history of the continent into its pages. Legacy: The book's success led to García Márquez's international fame and was a key factor in his winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. "

August Book Club - The Library Book by Susan Orleans

On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual fire alarm. As one fireman recounted, “Once that first stack got going, it was ‘Goodbye, Charlie.’” The fire was disastrous: it reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who? Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a mesmerizing and uniquely compelling book that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before. In The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries across the country and around the world, from their humble beginnings as a metropolitan charitable initiative to their current status as a cornerstone of national identity; brings each department of the library to vivid life through on-the-ground reporting; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; reflects on her own experiences in libraries; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago. Along the way, Orlean introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters from libraries past and present—from Mary Foy, who in 1880 at eighteen years old was named the head of the Los Angeles Public Library at a time when men still dominated the role, to Dr. C.J.K. Jones, a pastor, citrus farmer, and polymath known as “The Human Encyclopedia” who roamed the library dispensing information; from Charles Lummis, a wildly eccentric journalist and adventurer who was determined to make the L.A. library one of the best in the world, to the current staff, who do heroic work every day to ensure that their institution remains a vital part of the city it serves.

Book Club: Storybook Ending by Moira Macdonald

*Storybook Ending* by Moira Macdonald is a charming story about romance, friendship, and a love of books, in which two women—a lonely remote worker and a widowed single mom—and a handsome local bookstore clerk find themselves in an unusual love triangle when an anonymous note left in a book finds the wrong recipient. Looking forward to enjoying brunch at True Food Kitchen in Pasadena. The menu can be found here: https://share.google/Y5Gn8RwSbwZlGOmvy The event fee will secure your reservation and be applied to membership dues, which covers the cost of the website. The event fee is NONREFUNDABLE unless the event is canceled by the organizer. To join the waitlist comment on the event page. If you have RSVPed and can no longer attend, please contact me directly and I will contact the people on the waiting list and then move you to "not going" when I find a replacement. Thank you and happy reading!

August 2026 Book Discussion: At the edge of Haight by Katherine Seligman

**📚 Our August Book Has Been Chosen!** Thanks to everyone who voted! Our next **Books & Brew** read is: ***At the Edge of the Haight* — Katherine Seligman** 🌉 Grab a copy, start reading, and join us for a great conversation! **About the Book** Twenty-year-old Maddy Donaldo has built a life for herself on the streets of San Francisco, finding family, routine, and survival in the hidden corners of Golden Gate Park. But when she witnesses the murder of a young homeless boy—and the killer sees her—her world is turned upside down. As police, grieving parents, and her own estranged family search for answers, Maddy must decide whether to continue hiding from the world or risk letting herself be found. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing San Francisco, *At the Edge of the Haight* explores homelessness, belonging, community, and the difficult choices that shape our lives.

Queer Book Club- "Under the Udala Trees" by Chinelo Okparanta

HORROR BOOK CLUB (August): “The Lovely Bones”

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). August 19th's selection is "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out" by Richard Feynman. 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 Bring your nominations for future books - we'll be voting at the end of the meeting!

The Atomic Habits Bookclub

Korean-English Language Exchange

Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag

A short, darkly comic novel about a middle-class Bangalore family whose fortunes change dramatically after the uncle starts a successful spice business, leading to a move to a larger home and a shift in family dynamics. Narrated by the son, the story explores how sudden wealth unravels the family's unity, creating tension, resentment, and a sense of being "tangled beyond repair," a meaning of the nonsense phrase "ghachar ghochar". The book, translated by Srinath Perur, is praised for its masterful crafting, subtle tension, and exploration of class, gender, and morality in contemporary India.

Game Day at Geeky Teas & Games

**Please note the $8 fee for this event is NOT payable to the meetup group, it is the entrance fee to Geeky Teas & Games, paid directly to Geeky Teas. (Feel free to use your punch card instead!)** Join us at Geeky Teas & Games (Alameda & Main St, Burbank) for an afternoon of board gaming with fellow sci-fi/fantasy readers. We have two long tables reserved in the card game room from 2-6pm. In the past we've had people teaching Wingspan, Mysterium, We're Doomed, Monikers, Catan, Gloom, Everdell, Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders, and Parks. If you have a game you know and want to teach, you are welcome to bring it - or grab it from the Geeky Teas library. More from their site: "In-store gaming is open for nice guests. Entry is $8 / person with all-day privileges and access to our large libraries of board games, tabletop terrain, and miniature paints." Their game library is truly impressive (https://www.geekyteas.com/game-library) and your entrance fee allows you to play for the full day until close, not just during the meetup. Looking forward to an afternoon of gaming with you!

"Bog Child" by Siobhan Dowd

Meet for a discussion of "Bog Child" by Siobhan Dowd. (Please note that there are multiple covers for this book.) Summary: Digging for peat in the mountain with his Uncle Tally, Fergus finds the body of a child, and it looks like she’s been murdered. As Fergus tries to make sense of the mad world around him—his brother on hunger-strike in prison, his growing feelings for Cora, his parents arguing over the Troubles, and him in it up to the neck, blackmailed into acting as courier to God knows what—a little voice comes to him in his dreams, and the mystery of the bog child unfurls.