Book Swaps San Francisco

Book 92: The True True Story of Raja the Gullible by Rabih Alameddine

NOTE: we had a conflict on the first Wednesday of October so we have two meetings in September. This one was recommended by a fellow book club member. A tragicomic love story set in Lebanon, a modern saga of family, memory, and the unbreakable attachment of a son and his mother. Excited to read it! \- 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! \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD “Alameddine is a writer with a boundless imagination.”—NPR From the winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction comes a tragicomic love story set in Lebanon, a modern saga of family, memory, and the unbreakable attachment of a son and his mother In a tiny Beirut apartment, sixty-three-year-old Raja and his mother live side by side. A beloved high school philosophy teacher and “the neighborhood homosexual,” Raja relishes books, meditative walks, order, and solitude. Zalfa, his octogenarian mother, views her son’s desire for privacy as a personal affront. She demands to know every detail of Raja’s work life and love life, boundaries be damned. When Raja receives an invite to an all-expenses-paid writing residency in America, the timing couldn’t be better. It arrives on the heels of a series of personal and national disasters that have left Raja longing for peace and quiet away from his mother and the heartache of Lebanon. But what at first seems a stroke of good fortune soon leads Raja to recount and relive the very disasters and past betrayals he wishes to forget. Told in Raja’s irresistible and wickedly funny voice, the novel dances across six decades to tell the unforgettable story of a singular life and its absurdities—a tale of mistakes, self-discovery, trauma, and maybe even forgiveness. Above all, The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) is a wildly unique and sparkling celebration of love.

October Book Club

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.

East Bay Women's Book Club October Meetup: True Biz

Hello, fellow female readers -- The book for the October Meetup is True Biz by Sara Novic. For those of you who are new, I will send out the address to my house by Monday, October 19. Looking forward to gathering together and discussing the book. Bonnie

The Lies of Locke Lamora @ Southern Pacific Brewing

Come enjoy a drink at Southern Pacific Brewing and discuss our September read! Our book for September is The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Hope to see you there!

"The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck

"Travel to 1920s China, a time when the last emperor still ruled and the sweeping changes of the twentieth century were distant rumblings, with this timeless, evocative classic tale of the honest farmer Wang Lung and his family as they struggle to survive in the midst of vast political and social upheavals. Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winner Pearl S. Buck traces the whole cycle of life: its terrors, its passions, its ambitions, and rewards. 'A comment upon the meaning and tragedy of life as it is lived in any age in any quarter of the globe' (The New York Times), this brilliant novel—beloved by millions—is a universal tale of an ordinary family caught in the tide of history."--Publisher

Round Table Book Discussion October Meeting

Join us for an in-person, open discussion on the fiction or non-fiction book or podcast/movie/news article/cultural event that most engaged you. Give a brief summary of a book or article that interested you, and we will discuss it, along with the issues other participants select. Or just come to check it out. Find us by the Roundtable sign on the table. Thursday, September 17, 2026 at 6:30 pm **We are at our warm-weather outdoor location:** ### Caffe Strada 2300 College Avenue · Berkeley, CA

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.

Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare by Edward Fishman

Our book for October 4 is Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare by Edward Fishman (**note the first Sunday in Oct)** For those who are interested, here is the [link](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bLDOHblc82ZnGcmmDpUodvav_yUZyqDSd5AtVn1AMKY/edit?gid=1204962740#gid=1204962740) to the detailed results from the voting. In this book, Edward Fishman examines how the United States has increasingly used its central position in the global economy as an instrument of foreign policy. Rather than focusing on traditional military power, Fishman traces the development of tools such as financial sanctions, export controls, restrictions on access to technology, and limits on energy trade. He describes how the dominance of the U.S. dollar, the importance of American and allied financial institutions, and Western control over critical technologies and supply chains have created economic “chokepoints” that can be used to exert pressure on other countries. Drawing on episodes involving Iran, Russia, and China, Fishman recounts how these tools evolved from relatively limited measures into major components of U.S. national security policy. The book covers the campaign of financial pressure that preceded the Iran nuclear agreement, the sanctions imposed on Russia after its actions in Ukraine in 2014 and its full-scale invasion in 2022, and the expanding use of technology controls in the strategic competition with China. Fishman also considers the limits and longer-term consequences of economic warfare, including efforts by targeted countries to reduce their dependence on the dollar, Western technology, and other parts of the global economic system that give the United States and its allies leverage. This event will be hybrid. I will host the meeting in person at my house in Berkeley which is near the intersection of College Ave and Woolsey St. I will email people the address the Saturday before the meeting. Here are the Google Meet details: Google Meet link: [https://meet.google.com/zem-xnbw-tuh](https://meet.google.com/zem-xnbw-tuh) Or dial: ‪(US) +1 641-854-0146‬ PIN: ‪637 012 874‬#

Books Not Bans presents Read the Room @ City Lights

The Satanic Verses

Discuss Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

Book Club Social: Pinball Time! Confirmed!