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 […]
Books worth banning are books worth reading! Impressions from our banned books day
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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 […]
We discussed Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry on September 21, 2023. Garmus’s 2022 best-selling novel centres on intellectually gifted chemist Elizabeth Zott and her struggles to work in scientific research as a woman in the 1950s and 1960s. And because chemistry and cooking are quite closely related, a culinary tweak […]
Those who are born2read enjoy literature in all its forms but, arguably, its most beautiful form has a shiny cover, coloured end papers, and pages smelling faintly of their wooden origin. We love books. And there are exciting news for all book lovers because PADERBORN2READ—The English Book Club is starting […]
We discussed Sherman Alexie’s Indian Killer on July 13, 2023. Alexie’s 1996 “feel-good novel about interracial murder” (according to the author) intertwines the personal life-story of John Smith, born native and adopted by white parents (evidently oblivious to Pocahontas), with the murder-mystery of a serial killer dubbed the “indian killer” […]
We discussed Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer: A Memoir on June 15, 2023 as part of our Pride Month Special. Kobabe’s 2019 graphic novel shows the author’s own journey to eir non-binary gender identity and has been at the heart of the ongoing U.S. censorship debate. We talked about the text […]
We discussed Aiden Thomas’s Cemetery Boys on June 15, 2023 as part of our Pride Month Special. Thomas’s 2020 YA novel follows latinx trans boy Yadriel on his journey to acceptance—by himself, his brujx community, and Lady Death—and love—with Julian who kick-starts the plot as an accidentally summoned spirit and […]
Pride month sets the theme for this summer term’s June discussion session on June 15, 2023: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas&Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe Thomas’s 2020 YA novel follows a latinx trans boy engaging with the Mexican death culture and features actual magic. Kobabe’s 2019 graphic novel […]
PADERBORN2READ—The English Book Club and FRAG, the student committee representing Paderborn University’s students of Romanic Studies, English and American Studies, and Germanic Studies, organized an afternoon filled with book-related activities as a contribution to Paderborn University’s Reading Week this summer term. Book lovers from different departments of Paderborn University as […]
We discussed Dana Schwartz’s Anatomy: A Love Story on May 11, 2023. Schwartz’s 2022 novel, set in 1817 Edinburgh, tells Hazel’s and Jack’s romance that enfolds over corpses and mystery: “Hazel Sinnett is a lady who wants to be a surgeon more than she wants to marry. Jack Currer is […]
Only two more weeks to go and there are exciting news to share about our very bookish afternoon: PADERBORN2READ—The English Book Club organizes the very bookish afternoon filled with book-related activities as a contribution to Paderborn University’s Reading Week and has now joined hands with FRAG, the student committee representing […]