September 2020 Book Club Report: Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights

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September Translated Literature Book Club Meeting

We held our second book club meeting on 26 September 2020, Saturday, at The Book Cafe. The cafe was full when we arrived, but thankfully we got seats for five shortly after. The interior was serene and adorned with books, perfect for a book club meeting. We also had the privilege of a lengthy discussion as the café staff did not hurry us to leave.

Over ice cream and brownie, coffee, and smoothies, we dived into Flights by Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk, exchanging many thoughts we had about the novel even though four of us hadn’t finished reading the book. It was entirely understandable given the unusually fragmented structure of the novel; the one who had read it in its entirety a few years ago hadn’t succeeded on her first attempt.

Here are the open-ended questions on Flights which we had discussed:

  • Our first impressions of the novel

  • What is the effect of the book’s format on how we read it?

  • Why do you think the author created a connection between travel and anatomy? Do you think she succeeded in creating a connection between the two?

  • What is your favourite scene, quote, chapter in the book?

The five of us generally enjoyed reading Flights, as we could relate to several reflections that Tokarczuk had on travelling, history, and the human psyche. It is interesting that the same stories that seemed absurd and grotesque to a few came across as riveting and fascinating to others. This is perhaps one of the charms of attending a book club: to exchange insights and form a richer understanding of the book.

October Book Club Selection 

At the end of the meeting, we decided on the book for our book club meeting in October: Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated from German by Susan Bernofsky. 

If you’d like to discuss Go, Went, Gone with us on the last Saturday of October, follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more details on our next book club meeting!

*Harriett Press’s Translated Literature Book Club is a monthly book club that meets to exchange thoughts on a translated book selected for the month. Anyone is welcome to join us!⁠ Find out more about book club meetings by following us on Facebook and Instagram!  

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Join us for our book club meeting on 26 September!

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We will be organising our second book club meeting on 26 September 2020, Saturday, to discuss Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights (translated from Polish), which won the Man Booker International Prize in 2018.

Here are the details:

Time: 4-6pm 

Date: 26 September 2020, Saturday

Venue: The Book Cafe (20 Martin Rd, #01-02 Seng Kee Building, Singapore 239070) 

Book: Flights by Olga Tokarczuk

Come join us as we discuss Flights over snacks and drinks! It’d be good to read the novel before coming. We will also be choosing the next translated book to read for the month of October! Please email us at editor@harriettpress.com by 18 September 2020 to confirm your attendance.

To find out what we did for our book club in August, check out our book club report!⁠

P.S. Harriett Press’s Translated Literature Book Club is a monthly book club that meets to exchange thoughts on a translated book selected for the month. Anyone is welcome to join us!⁠

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August 2020 Book Club Report: Yoko Ogawa’s The Memory Police

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Our Inaugural Book Club Meeting

We held our first book club meeting in the late afternoon on 29 August 2020, Saturday, at Whisk and Paddle. Over smoothies, tea and an intriguing glass of iced matcha chocolate (in which chocolate milk was poured over a matcha cube), four of us shared our thoughts on Yoko Ogawa’s The Memory Police.

The Memory Police is a science fiction novel set in a dystopian, surveillance state where memories are lost, objects disappeared.

Book Club Questions for The Memory Police 

While also digging into sweet potato fries and calamari, we chatted about:

  • Our first impressions of the novel

  • Did the novel challenge your perspective about anything?

  • If we were one of the characters (the protagonist, R, old man, or the memory police), would we have made the same decisions as they did?

  • Why do you think the author created a story within a story? How did the story about the typist strengthen or weaken the overall plot?

  • Our favourite quote or scene in the novel

  • Did the book end the way you expected?

It was refreshing to hear diverse views about the novel, and to ask difficult questions about the role of translators and translation. For instance, to what extent can/should the quality of a translated book be attributed to the translator?

September Book Club Selection 

Towards the end of the meeting, we decided on the book for September: Flights by Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk!

We can’t wait to meet other readers interested in translated literature, and exchange thoughts over good food and drinks. Stay tuned for more details about our book club meeting in September!

*Harriett Press’s Translated Literature Book Club is a monthly book club that meets to exchange thoughts on a translated book selected for the month. Anyone is welcome to join us!⁠ Find out more about book club meetings by following us on Facebook and Instagram!  

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