We discussed Timothy Schaffert’s The Titanic Survivors Book Club on June 13, 2024. This 2024 novel follows the curator of the RMS Titanic’s second-class library, who was left stranded at the docks when the catastrophic maiden voyage began. He soon receives an invitation to a secret society of Titanic survivors. […]
An exploration of desire, loss, and queerness: “The Titanic Survivors Book Club”
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We discussed Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden as part of our Secret garden party on May 23, 2024. This 1911 tale of Mary, Dickon, and Colin, the atmospheric Yorkshire Moors, and the titular locked-up garden has been a beloved classic of children’s literature for more than a century. PADERBORN2READ […]
written by PADERBORN2READ member Maty Parzival “‘Oh, Dickon! Dickon! Dickon!’ she said. ‘I’m so happy I can scarcely breathe!’” On a rainy Thursday, in the early hours of a January morning, a group of orphans arrived— Alright, no, actually, on a sunny afternoon where the wind was nice and the […]
We discussed John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids on May 16, 2024. This 1951 novel is sometimes considered the most famous catastrophe novel of the 20th century. When a freak cosmic event renders most of the Earth’s population blind, Bill Masen finds himself trapped in a London jammed with […]
PADERBORN2READ organizes an afternoon all about the literary and film classic The Secret Garden as a contribution to Paderborn University’s Reading Week. May 23, 2024 2.00–6.00 p.m. J4.319 & campus grounds The 1911 tale of Mary, Dickon, and Colin, the atmospheric Yorkshire Moors, and the titular locked-up garden has been […]
Our book choices for summer term 2024 have been made and we are looking forward to carnivorous plants and lovely flowers, Titanic survivors and Neanderthal recreations, and a mixture of classics and contemporaries. We kick things off on May 16, 2024 with some classic science-fiction: The Day of the Triffids […]
It is time to set up a new reading schedule! Make sure to join our planning session on April 11, 2024—only those who participate in the reading selection may complain about it later. 😉 As a reminder, these are the rules and guidelines we have established as our book club’s […]
We discussed Alison McGhee’s What I Leave Behind and Lize Meddings’s The Sad Ghost Club I on March 14, 2024. McGhee’s 2019 YA novel tells the story of sixteen-year-old Will, who tries to cope with the misery of his father’s suicide by doing some good in the world and to […]
We discussed Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House on February 8, 2024. Set on the prestigious Yale campus, this 2019 fantasy novel introduces us to an unlikely Yale freshman: Galaxy “Alex” Stern was raised by a hippie mother, dropped out of school, worked shady odd jobs, and solely survived an unsolved multiple […]
Paderborn University students exploring banned and challenged books and PADERBORN2READ—The English Book Club organized an event all about contested literature, the cultural and political discourses at work and the ethical dimensions of book censorship and banning. About thirty to fourty people participated in the event at any given time and […]
We discussed Rebecca F. Kuang’s Yellowface on January 11, 2024. This 2023 novel centers around authors June Hayward and Athena Liu. While June struggles to get her writing career going, Athena becomes a literary success story. When Athena dies in a freak accident, June acts on impulse: she steals not […]
This holiday season, we continued a book club tradition: the Secret Santa Book Swap. For this term’s December session, all fifteen participants selected a book that they have read and wanted somebody else to enjoy, too. The books were brought wrapped in paper, with only written teasers hinting at their […]
We discussed Kiersten White’s Mister Magic on December 14, 2023. This 2023 novel follows the Circle of Friends, five former cast members of the 90s children’s programme “Mister Magic”, who survived a tragic accident that ended the show’s production. They have spent their lives looking for the special sense of […]
We discussed Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher and T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead on November 9, 2023. The 1839/1840 tale by Poe makes us witnesses to the mysterious decline of a house and the horrifying demise of its inhabitants. The 2022 retelling by Kingfisher […]
Paderborn University students exploring banned and challenged books in a seminar lead by club members Andrea and Beth are collaborating with PADERBORN2READ—The English Book Club to organize an event all about contested literature, the cultural and political discourses at work and the ethical dimensions of book censorship and banning. We […]
What do you do when you have only five discussion slots to fill in a term but twenty-five book suggestions to fill them? Where do you lean when every single book pitch sounds intriguing? How do you cope when promising read after promising read has to be dropped? Well, you […]
Our reading list for winter term 2023/2024 has been completed and leads us into horror, suspense, and thrill—while still ending on a wholesome note. We start with a post-Halloween special on November 9, 2023 with some classic horror retold: The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe&What […]
Our club member Ronja smiled about this brilliant suggestion in a Twitter/X post by Lena Dunham: Let’s be reasonable and add an eighth day to the week that is devoted exclusively to reading. Lena Dunham’s Twitter/X Let us prepare for that eighth day. It is time to set up a […]