Chelsea Library Book Group

Love books and lively discussions?

Chelsea Library's Reading Group meets once a month to explore a range of captivating reads chosen from prize-winners and short- and long- listed books. It's a welcoming space to share ideas, discover new authors, and connect with fellow book lovers in the community.

Whether you’re a casual reader or a literary enthusiast, there’s always a place for you here!

In November we will discuss Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025.

In the distant future, humans are on the verge of extinction and have settled in small tribes across the planet under the observation and care of the Mothers. Some children are made in factories, from cells of rabbits and dolphins; some live by getting nutrients from water and light, like plants. The survival of the race depends on the interbreeding of these and other alien beings - but it is far from certain that connection, love, reproduction, and evolution will persist among the inhabitants of this faltering new world. Unfolding over geological eons, Under the Eye of the Big Bird is at once an astonishing vision of the end of our species as we know it and a meditation on the qualities that, for better and worse, make us human.