Stefens Bookclub – August

In August we will be reading Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandell.

We’ve read older books for the last couple of months, so this month we’ll be reading something recent, the winner of this year’s Arthur C Clarke Award Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel. In an unusual approach to the post apocalyptic novel, it follows a group of travelling actors and musicians who move from town to town performing for the small communities scattered across North America twenty years after a pandemic wiped out the world we know. Ostensibly this book explores not just the survival aspects of the new world, but also the effects that such a change would have on identity. We are at least in part products of our culture, and if that were to change so dramatically what would those that come after us be like? What would they make of our stories, our art, our music?

This book has received acclaim from some reviewers and criticism from others, so I think we can expect a varied response from attendees but that’s what makes these meetings so interesting and entertaining. I look forward to sharing my thoughts and hearing yours.