Discover what's new this month at your local library!
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Longform Article Reading Club |
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Like a book club, but less commitment
| To my dear longform clubbers! My apologies for canceling the July meeting due to a conflict with serving as a juror on a civil case here in the City. The good news is that everyone who wanted to discuss "The Missing Person: Kafka the Tourist" but couldn't now has a chance on Halloween morning.
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A week from Saturday, on August 29, we will discuss a classic of the extended literary journalism genre by David Foster Wallace. For anyone who couldn't get through the author's Infinite Jest, here is your chance to slay one small piece of DFW writing through shared inquiry.
I am also happy to announce the selection for September, a recent essay about the South Bay and highway 85 published in Places Journal last month.
Keep reading for all the details. |
See you on Zoom on the 29th! -- Kelci |  |
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August Selection |
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by David Foster Wallace
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| Register on Zoom
| Saturday, 8/29/2026
10:00 - 11:30 a.m. Virtual Library (Zoom)
Harper’s Magazine, January 1996
One week on a cruise ship, otherwise known as a “supposedly fun thing I'll never do again,” and twenty thousand words later, we get to know how DFW really feels about this luxury experience that he absolutely does not enjoy. This piece of travel writing is a classic example of the extended literary journalism genre, and we're closing out our literary summer by puzzling over its intriguing prose and meandering footnotes.
Access options:
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September Selection |  |
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| Register on Zoom
| Saturday, 9/26/2026
10:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Virtual Library (Zoom)
Hua Hsu grew up in Cupertino when Apple was just another company in an anonymous office park—which is to say, before Highway 85 transformed the southern reaches of Silicon Valley. Now, he uses the artery’s arrival to chart the development of the region, his family and himself. With the stories of so many highways being ones of displacement and inequality (see: New York, Chicago, Oakland), it’s a treat to read one that feels more like a memoir of possibility.
Places Journal, July 2026
Access options: Header image courtesy of Places Journal |
October Selection |  |
by Kate Zambreno |
| Register on Zoom
| Saturday, 8/31/2026
10:00 - 11:30 a.m. Virtual Library (Zoom)
(Rescheduled from July 25)
Judging from how Kafka talks about traveling in his diaries, he’s a frail and neurotic man urged by the obsession to write—but in this patchwork essay of tidy squares and literary headings, Zambreno associates him with photography, Paris, Lake Maggiore, art theft and historical occurrences both literally connected to his life and figuratively relevant. Does Kafka get what Kafka complains about wanting? In reconstructing Kafka’s history through her own obsessive research and placing the writer’s process within the essay itself, Zambreno presents a portrait both splintered and replete of the famous Czech author as a young man.
Virginia Quarterly Review, Winter 2019
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Recap From Last Meeting
| No recap due to the postponement of the July discussion
But, as a follow-up to our April discussion of "A Good Death," you may be interested in this article about death doulas that appeared in the August 17, 2026 issue of the New Yorker.
End of Story: The Doulas Who Help Us Die by Alexandra Schwartz (link opens to Flipster, an eMagazine platform available through the library) |
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Thanks for reading!
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Selections are curated by librarians in the Magazines and Newspapers Center. See all 2026 selections.
We welcome your suggestions! Guidelines:
Around 10,000 words in length Strong sense of plot driving the narrative Any topic or genre Preference given to articles from periodicals the library subscribes to Have questions or comments?
Contact us by phone at (415) 557-4453 or email at mnc@sfpl.org
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Magazines and Newspapers Center Main Library, 5th Floor
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
sfpl.org/magsnews
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