Join us every month as we read and discuss books and essays that speak to our individual and collective well being, and to reflect on how to practice it in our busy cities.
This will include writings on themes that connect us to each other and the natural world even as we celebrate the beauty and fragility of our existence.
What’s Brewing
- We’ll discuss one book/essay every month.
- Share your favourites excerpts and quotes on the ‘Reading Circle’ WhatsApp group.
- Don’t worry if you haven’t read the whole book. We’ll send out a summary one week prior to our Reading Circle meeting.
- Join us on Whatsapp for an hour long discussion.
BROWSE THROUGH THE BOOKS WE READ IN 2021
BROWSE THROUGH THE BOOKS WE READ IN 2022
January 2023
On Looking: Eleven walks with expert eyes by Alexandra Horowitz
On Looking begins with inattention. It is not meant to help you focus on your reading of Tolstoy; it is not about how to multitask. Rather, it is about attending to the joys of the unattended, the perceived “ordinary.” Horowitz encourages us to rediscover the extraordinary things that we are missing in our ordinary activities. So turn off the phone and portable electronics and get into the real world, where you’ll find there are worlds within worlds within worlds. Read the summary here.
February 2023
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
“Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but the emperor of the Tartars does continue listening to the young Venetian with greater attention and curiosity than he shows any other messenger or explorer of his.” So begins Italo Calvino’s compilation of fragmentary urban images. Poetic, mesmerising, profound and challenging – we revisit an old timeless classic. Read the summary here.
March 2023
The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama offers readers a series of fresh stories and insightful reflections on change, challenge, and power, including her belief that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress. Drawing from her experiences as a mother, daughter, spouse, friend, and First Lady, she shares the habits and principles she has developed to successfully adapt to change and overcome various obstacles—the earned wisdom that helps her continue to “become.” Read the summary here.
April 2023
A Break in Format for RC
For the month of April, we thought we’d try something new and instead of reading one book for the month – the group members brought to the discussion any book they had read in the month of April.
Books like Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others; Salman Rushdie’s Victory City; Mizuki Tsujimura’s Lonely Castle in the Mirror and others were discussed and shared.
May & June 2023
The Myth of Normal by Gabor Mate and Daniel Mate
Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between the maladies of individuals and the declining soundness of society—and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing. Co-written with his son Daniel, The Myth of Normal is Maté’s most ambitious and urgent book yet.
Read the summary here.