Introduction
Our group often returns to the meaning of life, using books and personal experience to think about meaning, existence, and meaninglessness.
During the book club’s pause, I happened to have a baby. A small new life joined our family.
He arrived with a loud cry and has only just begun smiling at us.
So what is life, and what does it mean?
Before the book club baby arrived, I thought more about my own experience and abstract questions. Now the details of caring for a child keep bringing me back to earth. We are overwhelmed, but grounded.
So what is life, and what does it mean?
As a busy new mother, I am eager to reopen the book club and hear everyone’s thoughts.
It is also a chance to meet the book club babies, now two months old: several very new lives among us.
See you at the usual place on Friday.
Philosophy & Society
Read the original article (Chinese) Original Event Information
Date and time: Jul 18, 2025 (Fri) 7:30PM
Location: 16595 Redmond Way, Redmond, WA 98052 (Eastline Apartment 3F)
Discussion: talking about life
Capacity: 25 people, including ten observers
— Schedule —
First half:
Arrival and seating
Participant introductions: briefly share a recent book, film, program, or piece of music you enjoyed (3 minutes each).
Discussion topic: life
Bring a related book, philosophical question, artwork, or reflection.
Registered speakers have 5–10 minutes each.
Open sharing
Group photo
— Registration —
https://forms.gle/zwNuAb93C74ANJTh7
Please use the registration link above.
Registration order is determined by the link above.
Your email address is used to send the apartment access code and instructions.
After registering, add the assistant on WeChat to join the event group.
📌 Include “book club” in your friend request.
Find the account “别处读书会” on Xiaohongshu.
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About Elsewhere Book Club
Elsewhere Book Club
The name Elsewhere comes from Milan Kundera’s Life Is Elsewhere.
Life Is Elsewhere.
We seem more inclined to imagine a golden age when looking backward or forward. Yet, in my own life, this moment and elsewhere have become inseparable, each giving meaning to the other.
Live fully in this moment. The search for elsewhere also takes place here and now.
I had just arrived in Seattle. In an unfamiliar place, my first impulse was to start a small book club, perhaps to meet others who find steadiness in books and enjoy sustained conversation.
Mount Sumeru within a mustard seed; a mustard seed holding Mount Sumeru.
I hope this small space can give us somewhere to exchange ideas each week.