Thanks so much to all of our Lit Reads members whose sharp insights, generosity and love for books has made this an especially memorable year of reading! What began as a small group of dedicated members tucked on couches, soon became a sprawling group of familiar and unfamiliar faces perched on benches and folding ladders (the new year will bring new chairs!). Lit Reads began as a way for us to connect readers who yearned for great literary conversation but struggled to find book clubs to call home. Time Out has had the pleasure of serving engaged book lovers for three decades and we are thrilled to be able to expand this community beyond the retail space.
Photo: Inaugural Lit Reads Book Club Frankenstein in Baghdad April 23rd 2018
Photo: Lit Reads Book Club This Mortal Boy October 15th 2018
Reader’s Pick Competition
One of my reading highlights from Lit Reads was Sing, Unburied, Sing - a harrowing Southern literary Gothic exploring the harsh environment of Mississippi and the legacies of trauma woven through DNA. Melancholic and beautiful, Sing, Unburied, Sing firmly cemented itself as one of my favourite books this year. We’d also love to hear about your Book Club favourites! If you have a favourite title from our Lit Reads list or a favourite book club moment that you’d like to share, send through your thoughts to books@timeout.co.nz with ‘Lit Reads Readers Pick’ in the subject line. We will pick one of these to be published in our Time Out Newsletter and our winner will also receive a $100 store voucher. We’ll also be giving out our Time Out Enamel Cat pins to the first ten entrants which can be collected in-store, and will keep all of your wonderful recommendations in a Google Doc which we will send to our mailing list.
2019 Surprises:
Thank you everyone for your feedback from last book club! I’ve taken these all on board and am working away at some changes for next year. I can confirm that starting in January we will have a Google Document for every book club that lists all recommendations from the beginning of our discussion. We will also have a ‘Lit Reads Meets…’ author Q&A every few months, a ‘Dispatches from Lit Reads’ newsletter providing reportage from the night, an Instagram page and are diligently working away on a few other extras to keep our little community growing and dynamic.
2019 Dates:
These are all locked in now:
JANUARY 21ST
Killing Commendatore - Haruki Murakami
FEBRUARY 18TH
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MARCH 18TH
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APRIL 15th
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MAY 20TH
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JUNE 17TH
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JULY 22ND
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AUGUST 19TH
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SEPTEMBER 23RD
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OCTOBER 28TH
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NOVEMBER 18TH
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Our next book club pick is the new door-stopping epic by Haruki Murakami, Killing Commendatore. What better way to spend summer than with an immersive, surreal novel by one of our favourite authors at Time Out? I look forward to seeing you all again (and hearing your New Year Book Resolutions!) when we reconvene on January 21st. A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of our Lit Reads friends! Thank you for reading with us this year.
Warm bibliographical regards,
Suri
Our mission with Lit Reads is to connect communities of readers and hear new and varied perspectives on fresh, contemporary titles. If this sounds like you, sign up to the Lit Reads Newsletter below.