South Manchester Book Group

We're a friendly and open reading group, and we share a love of books and discussing them with other people. We meet every fortnight, but you don't have to come to them all. It's dead simple; choose a book you like the sound of, read it (or even part of it) beforehand and turn up with a few ideas and money for beer / wine / flirtinis. It's very informal, and we're quite a friendly bunch. We meet at a pub in Didsbury around 8 pm, and can usually be found on the table with the books and flirtinis.

If you enjoy talking about books over a quiet drink, then please join us — new members are very welcome.

Our reading list, past, present, and future, appears here and a short version of what we’re reading next is here.

Thursday 3 November 2016

At the Existentialist Café — Sarah Bakewell

Book cover for Sarah Bakewell's At the Existentialist Café in the South Manchester, Chorlton, and Didsbury book groupParis, near the turn of 1933. Three young friends meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and their friend Raymond Aron, who opens their eyes to a radical new way of thinking. Pointing to his drink, he says, “You can make philosophy out of this cocktail !” From this moment of inspiration, Sartre will create his own extraordinary philosophy of real, experienced life — of love and desire, of freedom and being, of cafés and waiters, of friendships and revolutionary fervour. It is a philosophy that will enthral Paris and sweep through the world, leaving its mark on post-war liberation movements, from the student uprisings of 1968 to civil rights pioneers. As read on Radio 4's Book of the Week !

This week's book is Sarah Bakewell's At the Existentialist Café and we'll be meeting at The Fletcher Moss on William Street in Didsbury.

And as a special Hallowe'en Treat, we'll also be reading Henry James' The Turn of the Screw.