How to Be Book Club - "The Naif" by Valerie Hsiung

** Please note: this event will take place at Book Club Bar's East Village location. **

Existential crises are like a persistent rash. There's no cure, but if you're suffering from the Big Questions, maybe the How To Be Book Club can be a salve. Come hang out in Book Club Bar's back garden one Saturday each month, and join us in discussing works of philosophical fiction from across different eras and parts of the globe. We'll read the book beforehand (and do us a solid, if you can—get your book from our store), and then gather for casual conversation over drinks. No preparation needed; just bring your book and your curious mind!

This August, we'll explore surveillance, state control, affect theory, and resistance through our reading of The Naif by Valerie Hsiung, paired with Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott. The Naif's unnamed narrator reaches out from under the watchful eye Apparatus through her daily logbooks towards you, reader, as a testament of what awareness, what becoming, what imagination is possible under the scarcest of conditions. In Seeing Like a State, Scott makes the case against top-down, authoritarian social planning that disregards the values, desires, and objections of a state's inhabitants.

This month's picks: by Valerie Hsiung
& by James C. Scott

What your ticket includes:

• $8 off any drink at the bar

Grab a brunch cocktail at the bar and tell us what you thought of the book! Our informal discussion will be led by BCB bookseller Keri Kelly.

Registration is capped, so please register early if you are planning on attending. Please note: gratuity for the bartenders is not included. Please use your tickets at the beginning of the event.