Hi there, Samarth here!

1) Our next book club meet is next week on 8th August to discuss Nausea by Jean Paul Sartre. I had announced the book in June, and I hope some of you are already reading.

Deadline to send write-ups is August 5. Email me at [email protected]. Location will be in Bandra/Juhu/Andheri. I will share exact details with attendees.

What to include in the email? Same as last time: Did you actually like the book or not? Why? Was there any section that hit you the hardest? What are you thinking about after?

Please don't use AI for this. The point is simply that you've read the book and spent some time putting your thoughts down before you walk in.

2) This is us from July 11 meetup where we discussed The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin. :)

I was thinking about it this morning, in context of the CJP Protest and resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, because what really stood out for me in the book were two things.

First, political change is about imagination, that things can be organised differently, and that “different” doesn’t need to mean perfect utopia.

Second, crossing boundaries which others treat as permanent is in itself a political act.

(Just sharing top-of-mind thoughts as I am working on a piece on this - so treat this as a nudge to pick it up if you missed it.)

3) The book for September is The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. In the meet-up, we discussed doing a 6-week read-along—meaning set weekly goals and read together—which will start in mid-August and run till end of September, when we meet. More details on this later, but if you want to be a part of it, please write back to me, and I will keep you posted.

Happy reading!

Samarth Bansal