The Best Book Club
updated February 22, 2025
me at left bank books in St. Louis
written by Alex Ullman (in the style of a Wirecutter product review)
Before I read books professionally, I read books for fun. But then I thought, why not do both! That’s where the book club comes in.
Now, many book clubs will keep you entertained, but few also will inspire and inform. And after attending many book clubs and even hosting a few, I believe I’ve come up with a style and framework that does all of those things. I call it “Read Along with Alex.”
Why you should trust me: I am a good reader! I like to talk a lot about books and listen to others talk about them too. I also have a PhD in English Literature and am currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis.
Who this is for: Anyone who wants to read books, to talk about them, and to sound smart talking about them. Also invited are people interested and willing to have their day, or even their sense of self, radically altered by books!
How I picked and tested: We’ll read mostly contemporary fiction—today’s **hottest books** but also books that are *hot adjacent*—though at times we’ll move backward in time to satisfy some of my more eclectic tastes and academic concerns. All books had to look interesting to me, though I haven’t read any of them yet.
What to look forward to:
This spring’s theme is “Contemporary Global Fiction.” We’ll read fiction from around the globe, and we’ll discuss issues of timeliness and translation, among other things.
4 Tuesdays: March 18, April 15, May 13, and June 10 @ 8pm EST, on Zoom
March: Isabella Hammad, Enter Ghost (2023)
April: Han Kang, Greek Lessons (2011/2023)
May: Percival Everett, James (2024)
June: Yang Shuang-zi, Taiwan Travelogue (2024)
All books are available for 20% discount from Left Bank Books in St. Louis. Just mention you’re in the club at the register or as a comment on your online order.
Cost: Sliding Scale 100-200$ to join the group for four months. PayPal or Venmo directly at @Alexander-Ullman. Email me for the link!
The competition: There are a lot of bad book clubs out there, where that one person talks too much about their past. Instead, we will all talk too much about all of our pasts.