You’re already familiar with our NYRB Classics Bookclub, in which we read and discuss classic works of fiction… now we’d like to invite you to join The Other Book Club, a reading group for those of you interested in exploring works from the “Other” section of our store.

Our recently expanded “Other” collection includes ever so eclectic essays, plays, creative non-fiction, memoirs and more. Featuring books like Patrick Leigh Fermor’s travels through the Greek islands and the political tracts of Simone Weil—and let’s not forget Oskar Panizza’s blasphemous essay on the history of the pig!—our non-fiction section is as unusual as the rest of our store.

August’s book will be Is That Kafka? 99 Finds by Reiner Stach. In the course of compiling his highly acclaimed three-volume biography of Kafka, Stach made one astounding discovery after another: unexpected photographs, excerpts from letters, inconsistencies in handwritten texts, and testimonies from Kafka’s contemporaries that shed surprising light on his personality and his writing. In Is that Kafka?, Stach has assembled 99 of his most exciting discoveries, presenting the crystal granules of the real Kafka.

A mishmash of ephemera, curiosities and confessionals, the finds range from the banal to the deeply personal, yet collectively paint as engaging and illustrative a portrait of the artist as any I’ve read.
—Pasha Malla, Globe and Mail 

How it works:

Stop by Malvern Books to sign up and you’ll receive a 10% discount off the title! Read the book and then come to the meeting prepared with either a question or specific passage to discuss with the group. We’ll look forward to seeing you on Saturday, August 19th, at 1pm!