A different kind of book club

Book clubs are not new. They have been around for decades, centuries even as some trace their establishment back to the 1800s, largely dominated by women’s reading societies. Until today, bibliophiles gather almost religiously to discuss literature, philosophy, culture, politics and more. Oprah Winfrey, Benjamin Franklin, Virginia Woolf all founded their own book clubs at some point but even ordinary people gather weekly, monthly or bi-monthly to talk about a book on the agenda.

Usually, their premise is simple – find a space, set a date, choose a book and meet with the members to talk about an aspect of it. But a new local initiative takes a completely different approach to the meaning of a ‘book club’. The Book Club to be held at Tapper bar every other Monday is organised by Quintessentially Queer and ditches the ordinary literature reviews to focus on critical thinking.

27-year-old George Rallis, the person behind Quintessentially Queer, launched this Book Club in December. The bi-weekly meetings aim to weave together different strands of culture, theory and philosophy in a critically analytical way, to spark conversation, rethinking, inspiration, creation and community-building.

Instead of reading a book in the lead up to the meetings, George invites participants to read a text, primarily in English. These vary from theoretical and culturally analytical texts to pieces that have a sort of underlying queerness to them. “Queer but not as in the sexual deviation from heteronormativity,” explains George. “Queer as in following a different critical route in deconstructing the notion which they are concerned with. Anything from gender politics to ecofeminism and postcolonialism.”

Wanting to challenge mindsets and perceptions, perhaps even his own, George has an interest in engaging in conversations that feed off critical thinking. His podcast and blog, Quintessentially Queer, is an attempt at that and this latest initiative a further extension.

The Book Club in Limassol, with plans to soon come to Nicosia as well at DriveDrive from February 10 onwards, invites anyone interested in culture, theory and critical thinking to join the discussion and the next event on Monday.

“Reading a book every other week can prove challenging to some, parallel to working and having other responsibilities,” says George. “So, how it works is that I provide two texts a week (or so) before the session in order for everyone to read. Usually, one is an actual reading that’s more theoretical and one that is a bit more informal, either poetry, a performance, a movie, an article and so on. Then, I present my own take on the texts followed by an open discussion.

“The structure of it though,” he adds, “also depends on the people that join me, since the Book Club is essentially a living breathing organism of knowledge production that is formed by the agents in it. For example, our next session in Tapper will be on February 7 but two days beforehand we will host a screening of the documentary Paris is Burning since it will be our object of analysis of the following session.”

Beyond just gathering to talk about theories and culture, George hopes his book club will create a community of like-minded people, a trusted group where its members feel inspired to share, ask questions and be vulnerable to the things that excite them. And who knows? Maybe a cultural creation can be born out of this – an event, an exhibition, a zine, a performance. Then again maybe not, George, just like the Club, is open to seeing how this can develop. One bi-weekly meeting at a time.

The Book Club

By Quintessentially Queer. February 7 and every other Monday. Tapper Bar, Limassol. 7.30pm-9pm. €5 donation. Facebook page @QuintessentiallyQueer