Comic Book Clubs San Francisco

October 2026 Book Discussion: The Vegetarian by Han Kang

**Our October Book Has Been Chosen! 📚** **Thanks to everyone who voted! Our next Books & Brew read is:** **🌿 The Vegetarian — Han Kang** **Grab a copy, start reading, and join us for a great conversation!** **About the Book** **After a series of disturbing dreams, Yeong-hye makes the seemingly simple decision to stop eating meat. But as her family reacts with increasing confusion, anger, and attempts to control her, that decision becomes the beginning of a much more profound transformation.** **Told through the perspectives of those around Yeong-hye, The Vegetarian explores autonomy, desire, conformity, violence, and the ways we understand—or fail to understand—the people closest to us.** **Originally published in Korean and translated by Deborah Smith, Han Kang’s unsettling novel won the 2016 International Booker Prize and invites plenty of questions about identity, choice, and what happens when someone refuses to live according to the expectations placed upon them.** **──────────** **📸 Follow us on Instagram @booksandbrew_oakland for meetup photos, book announcements, and future events.**

CONSCIOUS GIRL LIT CLUB: Communion

Communion by bell hooks Inspired by: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWonXNrjW8j/

Book Club: "The Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah

"The Nightingale" is being adapted into a movie starring Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning - let's read and discuss the historical fiction novel by Kristin Hannah before the movie comes out! There are several copies available at the library so it should be easy to get. The location is TBD but will be in the Burlingame/San Mateo/Foster City area. We'll decide after the October meeting! Everyone will be waitlisted initially. Priority will be given to previous attendees of book club and regular attendees of the group. For details on attendance & waitlist, please see the "About us" description for the group. **Book Summary - "The Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah** Publication Year: 2015 Page Count: 440 Despite their differences, Vianne and Isabelle have always been close. Younger, bolder Isabelle lives in Paris, while Vianne is content with life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their child. But when the Second World War breaks out and Antoine is conscripted to fight, Isabelle is sent to the country by her father to help Vianne. As war develops, the strength of the sisters' relationship is put to the test. With life changing, and confronted by unbelievable horrors, Vianne and Isabelle find themselves responding in ways they never thought possible, as bravery and resistance take differing forms for each of the two sisters. Vivid and exquisite in its illumination of a time and place defined by atrocity, but also humanity and courage, Kristin Hannah's novel will provoke thought and discussion long after readers turn the final page.

(One time only) 3rd Saturday "Not quite a book club" in the Richmond District

This month I need to change our usual 2nd Saturday meetup to the 3rd Saturday. Apologies to anyone who now can't make it! I would appreciate it if you could update your RSVP. Show up having read a book\* you want to talk about. Get a beverage and/or food inside the cafe. We will probably meet outside in Bazaar Cafe's back garden.\*\* (The garden is accessible through an alley. There is a door to the alley next to the register inside. You can also go directly to the back garden from the street via the alley entrance on the right side of the right Cafe window.) Once you've spotted the group, we will introduce ourselves and have a brief period of chit chat. Then we will go around our group each talking about the (different!) books we read. Afterwards, you are welcome to stick around and chat. If you have a physical book you are done reading and want to offer other folks in the group, you are welcome to do that, but there is absolutely no obligation to do so. \*Any book! Could be a graphic novel, or non-fiction, or fiction, or a mystery or a romance novel or SciFi or Fantasy! \*\*If it is raining or a really bad air day from wildfires, it may be too crowded inside Bazaar Cafe to find a table, although it was raining during a few meetings early last year and the Bazaar cafe folks helped me stake out a table. In the event of rain and no space inside, I will probably move the event a few blocks away to Ilana Coffee or Royal Ground Coffee on Clement. I will message the group if we meet inside or if the location moves to another coffee shop.

SF CogSci #34: Tapes Together Strong

Note: this session has been moved from November 17 to November 3 — same time, same place. Sorry for the shuffle. The vote for SF CogSci #34 is in. We’ll be reading [Tapes Together Strong: The Co-evolution of Computation and Cooperation](https://arxiv.org/html/2609.10817v1), by Jha, Cicala, Agüera y Arcas, Richards, Jaques, Kleiman-Weiner, and Niklasson (2026). You can read it here. See you Tuesday, November 3rd, 7–9pm at Frontier Tower. If you're attending in person, please be sure to register [here](https://luma.com/san-francisco-cognitive-science-reading--9b7e) as well, so you can get into the building.

Book Club Double Feature! 📚 🎃

Pick your spooky season read! 👻📚 Read either or both books! Just be prepared for spoilers for the other, even if you only read one. 🖤Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia A glamorous young woman visits her cousin at a mysterious mansion in 1950s Mexico, where dark family secrets and unsettling horrors await 🖤The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston A romance ghostwriter who’s lost her faith in love returns to her hometown after a family tragedy, only to discover that some love stories don’t end with death. 📍 Location to be determined, probably San Rafael or Novato.

Living Better Book Club

NEW Start Time: 1:30 pm. Mark your calendar! Usually about seven or eight people show up FYI—even if they don't all sign up here. :) We will be reading and discussing **"A Keeper"** by Graham Norton. When Elizabeth Keane returns to Ireland after her mother’s death, she’s focused only on saying goodbye to that dark and dismal part of her life. Her childhood home is packed solid with useless junk, her mother’s presence already fading. But within this mess, she discovers a small stash of letters—and ultimately, the truth. Forty years earlier, a young woman stumbles from a remote stone house, the night quiet except for the constant wind that encircles her as she hurries deeper into the darkness away from the cliffs and the sea. She has no sense of where she is going, only that she must keep on. With wistful and evocative prose, A Keeper is sure to appeal to “fans of sensitive character studies” (Publishers Weekly) and brilliantly illustrates Graham Norton’s clear-eyed understanding of human nature and its darkest flaws. Should be fun. See you all there!

Rambler Readers October Meeting

Location: Julie's house in Sunnyvale. Attendees will receive an email with the address several days prior to the meeting. Potluck, Julie will provide a main dish, we provide everything else. This month's book selection: The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan About the book: The Middle Place is about calling home. Instinctively. Even when all the paperwork -- a marriage license, a notarized deed, two birth certificates, and seven years of tax returns -- clearly indicates you're an adult, but all the same, there you are, clutching the phone and thanking God that you're still somebody's daughter. Future Books: Nov: Whistler by Ann Patchet Dec: MT

November 2026 Book Discussion: TBD (vote now)

**The November Books & Brew poll is officially open!** 📚🍻 It's time to choose our next read! The book with the most votes will become our November Books & Brew selection. **Voting closes Saturday, October 24 at 5:00 PM**, so make sure your favorite gets some love! **This month's nominees:** 🔮 *The Invocations* — Krystal Sutherland 💕 *How to End a Love Story* — Yulin Kuang 📖 *Man's Search for Meaning* — Viktor E. Frankl Three very different books, one choice! Which one are you hoping wins? 🗳️ **Cast your vote here:** [November 2026 Book Poll](https://forms.gle/bVtfZMJh7ZVmKL7H9) ────────── 📸 Want to see photos from past meetups and stay up to date between events? Follow us on Instagram: **@booksandbrew_oakland**

📚✨ ALOF BOOK CLUB: The Island of Sea Woman - Lisa See

2nd Saturday "Not quite a book club" in the Richmond District

Show up having read a book\* you want to talk about. Get a beverage and/or food inside the cafe. We will probably meet outside in Bazaar Cafe's back garden.\*\* (The garden is accessible through an alley. There is a door to the alley next to the register inside. You can also go directly to the back garden from the street via the alley entrance on the right side of the right Cafe window.) Once you've spotted the group, we will introduce ourselves and have a brief period of chit chat. Then we will go around our group each talking about the (different!) books we read. Afterwards, you are welcome to stick around and chat. If you have a physical book you are done reading and want to offer other folks in the group, you are welcome to do that, but there is absolutely no obligation to do so. \*Any book! Could be a graphic novel, or non-fiction, or fiction, or a mystery or a romance novel or SciFi or Fantasy! \*\*If it is raining or a really bad air day from wildfires, it may be too crowded inside Bazaar Cafe to find a table, although it was raining during a few meetings early last year and the Bazaar cafe folks helped me stake out a table. In the event of rain and no space inside, I will probably move the event a few blocks away to Ilana Coffee or Royal Ground Coffee on Clement. I will message the group if we meet inside or if the location moves to another coffee shop.

"Bacchae" by Euripedes

NOTE: THE DATE AND VENUE HAVE CHANGED. Finjan Qahwa, a Yemeni cafe, is a 10-minute walk from our usual venue, Cafe La Boheme (closed for Thanksgiving weekend). "*The* *Bacchae*, a profound exploration of the human psyche, deals with the appalling consequences of resistance to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and unfettered emotion."--Publisher