Tacoma Sister Cities
Book Club
Please join us as we learn about our Sister Cities cultural identity and history through books from their countries, while we snack on delicious treats inspired by international cuisine.
Check the section below to see the past, current and future books!
JOIN OUR BOOK CLUB!
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We will meet again on the following Mondays at 6:30 pm at King’s Books:
218 St. Helen’s Avenue in downtown Tacoma.
2023
December 11 – Eastbound (Vladivostok, Russia)
November 13 – Havana Year Zero (Cienfuegos, Cuba)
October 9 – Tender is the Night (Biot, France)
September 11 – Sweet Darusya (Brovary, Ukraine)
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2020
January – Gunsan, South Korea – Human Acts by Han Kang
February – Aalesund, Norway – Ashes in My Mouth, Sand in My Shoes by Per Petterson
March/April – Davao City, Philippines – Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
June/July – Fuzhou, China – Happy Dreams by Jia Pingwa
August – Boca del Rio, Mexico – Swift as Desire by Laura Esquivel
September – George, South Africa – Evening Primrose by Kopano Matlwa
October – Brovary, Ukraine – Your Ad Could Go Here by Oksana Zubuzhk
2019
June – Stari Grad, Croatia – EEG by Dasa Drndic
July – Kitakyushu, Japan – Convenience Store Woman by Sakaya Murata
August – Cienfuegos, Cuba – Revolution Sunday by Wendy Guerra
September -Taichung, Taiwan – Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan
November -Vladivostok, Russia – Oblivion by Sergei Lebedev
December – El Jadida, Morocco – Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami
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King’s Books is a community-oriented bookstore with 4500 square feet and approximately 100,000 books. We have an array of events weekly, from book clubs to author events, community gatherings to our annual letterpress festival. We opened on April 1, 2000 and have become the largest used and new independent bookstore in the Tacoma area. King’s Books is a proud member of the Stadium Historic District Business Association, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA), and the American Booksellers Association (ABA).
King’s Books is owned by sweet pea Flaherty, who took over the bookstore from John Schoppert and Pat McDermott in 2010. sweet pea has been a bookseller since 2000, starting at McDermott Books and A Room of One’s Own Feminist Bookstore in Madison, Wisconsin. sweet pea moved to Tacoma to work at King’s Books in 2003.
King’s Books is graced by the presence of dapper shop cat Herbert, who joined the staff in 2015. You can often hear him talking around mealtime. He is preceded by bookstore cats Harriet (at bookstore 2001-2008), Miko (at bookstore 2003-2014), and Atticus (at bookstore 2009-2018).
Check their website and order your books or come visit!
Hunter White
Hunter White moved to Tacoma in the fall of 2018 to pursue his interests in international business and trade with East Asian markets. Although originally a New England native (Connecticut, Vermont and Maine), he has worked and lived in several cities overseas including Taipei, Beijing, and Kunming.
Given his interests in various nations and cultures around the globe, he figured the Tacoma Sister Cities would be the ideal place to find like-minded folks in The City of Destiny.
This hunch turned out to be correct; soon after joining, Hunter was fortunate to receive the opportunity to begin organizing the Tacoma Sister Cities Book Club along with help from several key community members.
When not reading Book Club selections or indulging in trashy true crime novels, Hunter stays busy by serving as the chairman for the Tacoma-Taichung Sister City Committee. Outside of work and community involvement, Hunter stays active by playing competitive squash, harvesting wild shellfish, and tending to his vegetable garden.