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.
JOIN OUR BOOK CLUB!
We will meet again on the following dates at 6:30 pm at King’s Books
218 St. Helen’s Avenue in downtown Tacoma.
- Monday January 20, 2020
- Monday, February 17, 2020
- Monday, March 16, 2020
- Monday, June 15, 2020
- Monday, September 21, 2020
- Monday, October 19, 2020
- Monday, November 23rd
Check our Book Club News section below for more details on each meeting and book.
Photo of building circa 1919
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 meal time. 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!
- June 2019-Stari Grad, Croatia-EEG by Dasa Drndic
- July 2019-Kitakyushu, Japan-Convenience Store Woman by Sakaya Murata
- August 2019-Cienfuegos, Cuba-Revolution Sunday by Wendy Guerra
- September 2019-Taichung, Taiwan-Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan
- November 2019-Vladivostok, Russia-Oblivion by Sergei Lebedev
- December 2019-El Jadida, Morocco-Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami
- January 2020-Gunsan, South Korea-Human Acts by Han Kang
- February 2020-Alesund, Norway-Ashes in My Mouth, Sand in My Shoes by Per Petterson
- March/April 2020-Davao City, Philippines-Insurrecto by Gina Apostol
- June/July2020-Fuzhou, China-Happy Dreams by Jia Pingwa
- August 2020-Boca del Rio, Mexico-Swift as Desire by Laura Esquivel
- September 2020-George, South Africa-Evening Primrose by Kopano Matlwa
- October 2020-Brovary, Ukraine-Your Ad Could Go Here by Oksana Zubuzhko
CURRENTLY READING
Lie With Me
by Philippe Besson (translated by famed American actress Molly Ringwald)
Description:
The critically acclaimed, internationally beloved novel by Philippe Besson—“this year’s Call Me By Your Name” (Vulture) with raves in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Vanity Fair, Vogue, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Out—about an affair between two teenage boys in 1984 France, translated with subtle beauty and haunting lyricism by the iconic and internationally acclaimed actress and writer Molly Ringwald.
In this “sexy, pure, and radiant story” (Out), Philippe chances upon a young man outside a hotel in Bordeaux who bears a striking resemblance to his first love. What follows is a look back at the relationship he’s never forgotten, a hidden affair with a boy named Thomas during their last year of high school. Thomas is the son of a farmer; Philippe the son of a school principal. At school, they don’t acknowledge each other. But they steal time to meet in secret, carrying on a passionate, world-altering affair.
Despite the intensity of their attraction, from the beginning Thomas knows how it will end: “Because you will leave and we will stay,” he says. Philippe becomes a writer and travels the world, though as this “tender, sensuous novel” (The New York Times Book Review) shows, he never lets go of the relationship that shaped him, and every story he’s ever told.
Author:
Philippe Besson is an author, screenwriter, and playwright. His first novel, In the Absence of Men, was awarded the Emmanuel-Roblès Prize in 2001, and he is also the author of, among others, Late Autumn (Grand Prize RTL-Lire), A Boy from Italy, and The Atlantic House. In 2017 he published Lie With Me, a #1 French bestseller that won the the Maisons de la Presse Prize, and A Character from a Novel, an intimate portrait of Emmanuel Macron during his presidential campaign. His novels have been translated into twenty different languages.
Molly Ringwald’s writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, and Vogue, and she is the author of the bestselling novel-in-stories When It Happens to You.
MEET HUNTER WHITE, OUR BOOK CLUB LEADER
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.
