This Week at Commonplace.NYC — Oct 4 – Oct 10
2026-10-04
This Week's Book Clubs Oct 4 – Oct 10
Here's what's happening with Commonplace.NYC book clubs this week.
Author's Note: In between a new full-time contract I'm starting on Monday and my other commitments (Japanese classes, improv shows, bridge club, etc.), I haven't been able to make it to many events as I would like and as such have not been able to add them to Commonplace.NYC. I'm going to try my best to make it out to two events a week going forward, but given that this is an event calendar, this is a great opportunity to highlight more events that I'm not directly going to (and books that pair with them!). If I could clone myself, I would go to all of these!
From Landfill Harmonic to Basura: A Musical Journey to Broadway
A Garbology themed book club at From Landfill Harmonic to Basura at the Ethical Society. Watch Landfill Harmonic, the documentary about a Paraguayan children's orchestra playing instruments built from landfill trash. Then dramaturg Ken Cerniglia (Hadestown) explains how it became Basura, a Gloria and Emily Estefan musical headed for Broadway. Humes follows the 102 tons of trash each American leaves behind. Free, RSVP.
From Landfill Harmonic to Basura: A Musical Journey to Broadway:
Sunday, Oct 4 · 2:00 PM–4:00 PM EDT — 2 W 64th St, New York, NY 10023
Relic: The Blood of the Rose
A Metamorphoses themed book club at Relic's The Blood of the Rose at Corpus Christi Church. The program adapts La Púrpura de la Rosa, the first opera performed in the Americas (Lima, 1701), for Baroque instruments and readings from Calderón's libretto. Ovid tells the Venus and Adonis story in Book X. Read it, then hear what colonial Peru did with it. Tickets at the door from 4:30.
Relic: The Blood of the Rose:
Sunday, Oct 4 · 5:00 PM–6:30 PM EDT — 529 W 121st St, New York, NY 10027
T.V. Transvestite (de Bagno & Capozzi, 1982)
A Butch Queens Up in Pumps themed book club at a screening of T.V. Transvestite at the Maysles Documentary Center. The 1982 film, long thought lost, shows a House of LaBeija ball in a Harlem bingo hall, years before Paris Is Burning. Marlon Bailey's ethnography explains the house and ball system those queens built. Tickets.
T.V. Transvestite (de Bagno & Capozzi, 1982):
Sunday, Oct 4 · 7:00 PM–9:30 PM EDT — 343 Lenox Ave, New York, NY 10027
NYZ: Shakuhachi Workshop
A Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance themed book club at a shakuhachi workshop at New York Zendo Shobo-Ji. Marco Karaku Burmester teaches the bamboo flute monks play during zazen, and everyone gets a PVC flute to try. Pirsig chases Quality through a carburetor. Suizen chases it through one breath. Ichion jobutsu, enlightenment in a single note.
NYZ: Shakuhachi Workshop:
Sunday, Oct 4 · 7:00 PM–9:00 PM EDT — 223 E 67th St, New York, NY 10065
Getting Loud at the Library: Interfaith Dialogue in Old Books
An Ornament of the World themed book club at Getting Loud at the Library, where IRCPL's Seth Kimmel and Burke librarian Jeffrey Wayno pull rare books showing how rival religious communities argued in the same reading rooms. Menocal's history of Muslims, Jews, and Christians sharing libraries in medieval Spain is the warm-up. Free lunch. Non-Columbia guests register by 11:59pm Oct 4.
Getting Loud at the Library: Interfaith Dialogue in Old Books:
Monday, Oct 5 · 12:00 PM–2:00 PM EDT — 3041 Broadway, New York, NY 10027
Panic, Politics, and Policy: NYC During the AIDS Crisis, 1981–1996
A How to Write an Autobiographical Novel themed book club at Panic, Politics, and Policy: New York City During the AIDS Crisis, 1981–1996 at Roosevelt House. Tom Duane, C. Virginia Fields, and Deborah Glick talk stigma, needle exchange, housing, and the groups that stepped in when government didn't. Chee's essays include his years with ACT UP. Free, in person or online.
Panic, Politics, and Policy: NYC During the AIDS Crisis, 1981–1996:
Monday, Oct 5 · 6:00 PM–7:30 PM EDT — 47-49 East 65th Street, New York, NY 10065
Introduction to Law in Catholicism and Judaism
A Who Wrote the Bible? themed book club at Introduction to Law in Catholicism and Judaism at Temple Emanu-El, the first session of Jewish and Catholic Law in Dialogue. Fr. Michael Hilbert, S.J. and Rabbi Emma Dubin ask where religious authority sits and how binding it is today. Friedman's question comes first, who wrote the text being interpreted. Registration required by email to [email protected].
Introduction to Law in Catholicism and Judaism:
Monday, Oct 5 · 6:30 PM–8:00 PM EDT — 1 East 65th Street, New York, NY, United States
Learning Dynamics, and Dynamics of Learning
An At Home in the Universe themed book club at Learning Dynamics, and Dynamics of Learning, a Rockefeller physics-and-biology seminar with Emory's Ilya Nemenman. He shows where the classic Rescorla–Wagner model breaks on songbirds and worms, then demos an agent that learns interpretable dynamics from data. Kauffman's book is about order emerging from simple rules, which is roughly what Nemenman is trying to measure. Open to the public.
Learning Dynamics, and Dynamics of Learning:
Tuesday, Oct 6 · 4:00 PM–5:00 PM EDT — Smith Hall Annex, Room A30, 1230 York Ave, New York, NY 10065
Nowicki's Unbuilt Chandigarh: An Ecology of Everyday Life
A Timeless Way of Building themed book club at Nowicki's Unbuilt Chandigarh: An Ecology of Everyday Life, an Archtober panel at the Center for Architecture. Maciej Nowicki planned Chandigarh around shade, orientation, and planting before he died in 1950 and Le Corbusier took over. Alexander argues buildings should come out of how people actually live, which is close to what Nowicki drew. Register.
Nowicki's Unbuilt Chandigarh: An Ecology of Everyday Life:
Tuesday, Oct 6 · 5:30 PM–7:00 PM EDT — 536 LaGuardia Pl, New York, NY 10012
Pearl Screening & Horror Hangout
A Day of the Locust themed book club at Scream Scene's Pearl screening and horror hangout at Clara's in Gramercy. Pearl is a farm girl in 1918 who wants to be in pictures and kills whoever stands in the way. West wrote the novel about the people Hollywood leaves behind and what that does to them. Free, no ticket, 21+.
Pearl Screening & Horror Hangout:
Tuesday, Oct 6 · 8:00 PM–10:30 PM EDT — 393 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10010
Introduction to Working with Qualitative Data
A Designing Data-Intensive Applications themed book club at the Northeast Carpentries intro to qualitative data, a free online workshop from Columbia, Harvard, Buffalo, and Rochester. Kleppmann covers how systems store numbers at scale. This session covers the messier data, interviews and focus groups, and how to code it into themes. Register.
Introduction to Working with Qualitative Data:
Wednesday, Oct 7 · 2:00 PM–3:30 PM EDT — Online
New York Comic Con
A Supergods themed book club at New York Comic Con at the Javits Center. Grant Morrison argues superheroes are the gods a secular culture made for itself. Spend four days in the temple and decide if they're right. Cosplay encouraged.
New York Comic Con (Day 1):
Thursday, Oct 8 · 10:00 AM–7:00 PM EDT — 655 W 34th St, New York, NY 10001
New York Comic Con (Day 2):
Friday, Oct 9 · 10:00 AM–7:00 PM EDT — 655 W 34th St, New York, NY 10001
New York Comic Con (Day 3):
Saturday, Oct 10 · 10:00 AM–7:00 PM EDT — 655 W 34th St, New York, NY 10001
Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present
An On Photography themed book club at Reflections in Black, a SoHarlem conversation with Deborah Willis, NYU photography chair and 2026 American Book Award winner. Sontag asks what the camera does to the people in front of it. Willis has spent a career on the Black photographers who answered by picking the camera up themselves.
Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present:
Thursday, Oct 8 · 6:00 PM–7:30 PM EDT — 461 W 126th St, New York, NY 10027
Sam Roberts: Are They Dead Yet? The Art of the Obit
A The Book Against Death themed book club at Sam Roberts on Are They Dead Yet?: The Art of the Obit at Roosevelt House. The Times obituarist has written about 1,500 of them and says no life is ordinary. Canetti spent fifty years refusing to accept death at all. Bring both positions. RSVP or watch online.
Sam Roberts: Are They Dead Yet? The Art of the Obit:
Thursday, Oct 8 · 6:00 PM–7:30 PM EDT — 47-49 East 65th Street, New York, NY 10065
Cartoonists Celebrate America 250 and the Republic of Satire
A Thomas Nast: The Father of Modern Political Cartoons themed book club at Cartoonists Celebrate America 250 and the Republic of Satire at the Society of Illustrators, a month before the midterms. Steve Brodner, Ann Telnaes, Adam Zyglis, and Pedro X. Molina talk about drawing power and what it costs now. Nast's cartoons helped bring down Boss Tweed. Free.
Cartoonists Celebrate America 250 and the Republic of Satire:
Thursday, Oct 8 · 6:00 PM–9:00 PM EDT — 128 East 63rd Street, New York, NY 10065
Ask a Mathematician, Anything! with Dr. Tiago Hirth
A Joy of x themed book club at MoMath's Ask a Mathematician, Anything! with Dr. Tiago Hirth, recreational mathematician and co-founder of the Mathematical Circus. Strogatz writes for people who never got why math matters. Bring the question you were too embarrassed to ask in school. Online and free. Register.
Ask a Mathematician, Anything! with Dr. Tiago Hirth:
Thursday, Oct 8 · 6:30 PM–7:30 PM EDT — Online
Music on the Brain: A Change in Mind
A This Is Your Brain on Music themed book club at Music on the Brain: A Change in Mind at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. Columbia neuroscientist Julie Apostolou talks about how small genetic changes rewire perception, and pianist Kelly Green answers with variations on a theme. Free, in person or streamed. Official page.
Music on the Brain: A Change in Mind:
Thursday, Oct 8 · 7:00 PM–8:30 PM EDT — 58 W 129th St, Ground Floor, New York, NY 10027
Grand Central Murder Mystery Scavenger Hunt
A Murder on the Orient Express themed book club at the Grand Central Murder Mystery Scavenger Hunt. Meet Up Mary died at Grand Central. Teams get clues and 75 minutes to work out how. Christie solved a murder on a train. You get the whole terminal.
Grand Central Murder Mystery Scavenger Hunt:
Thursday, Oct 8 · 7:00 PM–9:30 PM EDT — 89 E 42nd St (Lower Level, Grand Central Terminal), New York, NY 10017
Me-Wee's Playhouse
A My Grandmother's Hands themed book club at Me-Wee's Playhouse at Dixon Place, Nicole Hill's part performance art, part play-date for adults. A monster named Me-Wee and a singing pair of clown-tits invite you to laugh at the "United States of Traumatization" and find your own monster. Menakem argues racial trauma lives in the body, so it fits. Six shows, $10 All Skate tickets available.
Me-Wee's Playhouse:
Thursday, Oct 8 · 7:30 PM–9:00 PM EDT — 161A Chrystie Street, New York, NY 10002
Me-Wee's Playhouse:
Friday, Oct 9 · 7:30 PM–9:00 PM EDT — 161A Chrystie Street, New York, NY 10002
Me-Wee's Playhouse:
Saturday, Oct 10 · 7:30 PM–9:00 PM EDT — 161A Chrystie Street, New York, NY 10002
Curator-Led Tour: Locating Girlhood
An Age of Homespun themed book club on an ArtTable curator-led tour of Locating Girlhood: Place and Identity in Early American "Schoolgirl" Art with Emelie Gevalt at the American Folk Art Museum. About 100 samplers, needlework maps, and watercolors argue that girls were making American landscapes before the Hudson River School. Ulrich reads early American history through objects women made, so she's the right guide.
Curator-Led Tour: Locating Girlhood:
Friday, Oct 9 · 11:30 AM–12:30 PM EDT — 2 Lincoln Square, New York, NY, United States
Walking Tour: Madison Avenue, High Fashion, and Historic Preservation
A Death and Life of Great American Cities themed book club on AIANY's Madison Avenue walking tour, tracing 1870s brownstones, McKim, Mead & White townhouses, and Rosario Candela apartments that became luxury storefronts. Jacobs fought to keep old buildings in use. Madison Avenue shows what that looks like when the rents get very high. Limited to 17. Register.
Walking Tour: Madison Avenue, High Fashion, and Historic Preservation:
Friday, Oct 9 · 5:00 PM–7:00 PM EDT — 29 E 61st St, New York, NY 10065
Laura Sacks & Steven Beck: Viola and Piano Recital
A Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times themed book club at a viola and piano recital inside the Nicholas Roerich Museum's Upper West Side townhouse. Violist Laura Sacks and pianist Steven Beck play C.P.E. Bach, Chopin's Variations brillantes and Waltz in A-flat, Robert Fuchs, and Milhaud. Read Alan Walker's biography first and hear the young Chopin's showpiece variations with fresh ears. Program.
Laura Sacks & Steven Beck: Viola and Piano Recital:
Friday, Oct 9 · 6:00 PM–7:10 PM EDT — 319 West 107th Street, New York, NY, United States
APHASIA: A Play in Verse
A Still Alice themed book club at APHASIA, Marc J. Straus's play in verse at The Chain Theatre, three nights only. Straus, a poet and former oncology chair, plays his own mother, Dora, a valedictorian at 76 who wakes from a stroke understanding everything and able to say nothing. Genova's Alice is a linguist losing language to Alzheimer's. Both books are about a sharp mind trapped inside. Tickets from $40.
APHASIA: A Play in Verse:
Friday, Oct 9 · 7:00 PM–8:25 PM EDT — 312 W. 36th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY, United States
APHASIA: A Play in Verse:
Saturday, Oct 10 · 7:00 PM–8:25 PM EDT — 312 W. 36th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY, United States
Met Opera Backstage Tour
A Power Broker themed book club on Untapped New York's Met Opera Backstage Tour: the 4,000-seat auditorium, the wig, costume, and carpentry shops, the armory, and the dressing rooms. Lincoln Center exists because Robert Moses cleared San Juan Hill to build it. Caro tells that part. Up to 12 guests, ages 8+.
Met Opera Backstage Tour:
Saturday, Oct 10 · 10:30 AM–11:45 AM EDT — 30 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023
Want to start your own book club? Here's a guide.
See the full schedule any time at https://www.commonplace.nyc.
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