TERRAIN BOOK CLUB SEASON ONE: WATER

A book club can be anything. Following sentiments that resonated with us in The Good Stack, and in the words of Jared Zhang from Care Culture: "You can actually book club anything. You could have a book club but only for objects, you know. A book club that is not a book club at all, but it's fulfilling our needs of ingesting something and talking about it."

The need to talk it through will likely rise from something provocative you’ve read, or simply the way a book may unsettle your sense of things. Rather than dispersing online into chat threads, comment sections, or podcasts – we can gather people together to chat off the cuff, to let the conversation unfold where it likes. That’s the spirit of book clubbing.

For our first book club, we'll dive into conversations on how water flows through our worlds as a force for growth, destruction and renewal. Experimental food and beverage provisions catered by Long Prawn, and conversations facilitated by Mary Knowles.

PRESCRIBED INGESTION & DATES

Book #1: Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane, Wednesday November 5th, 6:30 – 8:30pm

From the celebrated writer and observer Robert Macfarlane comes this brilliant, perspective-shifting new book - which answers a resounding yes to the question of its title. At its heart is a single, transformative idea- that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings - who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law. Inspired by the activists, artists and lawmakers of the young 'Rights of Nature' movement, Macfarlane takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept.

Is a River Alive? flows like water from the mountains to the sea, over three major journeys-

The first is to northern Ecuador, where a miraculous cloud-forest and its rivers are threatened with destruction by gold-mining.

The second is to the wounded rivers, creeks and lagoons of southern India, where a desperate battle to save the lives of these waterbodies is under way.

The third is to north-eastern Quebec, where a spectacular wild river - the Mutehekau or Magpie - is being defended from death by damming in a river-rights campaign.

Braiding these journeys is the life story of the fragile chalk stream who rises a mile from Macfarlane's house, and flows through his own years and days.

Passionate, immersive and revelatory, Is a River Alive? is at once Macfarlane's most personal and most political book to date. It is a book that will open hearts, spark debates and challenge perspectives. Lit throughout by other minds and voices, it invites us radically to reimagine not only rivers but also life itself. At the centre of this vital, beautiful book is the recognition that our fate flows with that of rivers - and always has.

Book #2: On Time and Water by Andri Snær Magnason, Monday December 1, 6:30 – 8:30pm

Icelandic author and activist Andri Snaer Magnason's 'Letter to the Future', an extraordinary and moving eulogy for the lost Okjokull glacier, made global news and was shared by millions. Now he attempts to come to terms with the issues we all face in his new book On Time and Water. Magnason writes of the melting glaciers, the rising seas and acidity changes that haven't been seen for 50 million years. These are changes that will affect all life on earth.

Taking a path to climate science through ancient myths about sacred cows, stories of ancestors and relatives and interviews with the Dalai Lama, Magnason allows himself to be both personal and scientific. The result is an absorbing mixture of travel, history, science and philosophy.

Book #3: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, Wednesday January 14th, 6:30 – 8:30pm

Adam One is the leader of the God's Gardeners, a religious group devoted to living under the command of the natural world. They wear beige cloth-sacks, cultivate mushrooms, harvest honey and curse each other by shouting: Pig-Eater! Their community is only tolerated by the CorpSeCorps, the ruling power, because they are not perceived as threatening. But, this is a world where gene-splicing is the norm; where lions and lambs have become Liobams and pigs have human DNA. The times, and species, are changing at a rapid rate, and with loyalites as thin as environmental stability, the future is a dangerous place. And, if the Waterless Flood does indeed arrive, as predicted by the Gardeners, will there even be a future to contemplate?

Ren is a trapeze dancer at Scales and Tails, and can work a plank just as well. After a rip in her biofilm she is placed in solitary confinement until they can guarantee she is without disease. Her story is one part of our gateway into this uniquely constructed world. The other is Toby, an ex-counter-girl at SecretBurger ('Because we all love a Secret'), a natural cynic and source of extensive homeopathic knowledge; she knows her aminatas from her puffballs.

Their stories weave beneath the holy teachings and saintly-songs of Adam One to create a truly apocalyptic vision, a world that harnesses Atwood's wit, dystopic imagination and sharp insight. The result is a collective blast of a novel and one that will remain with you until the Waterless Flood comes.

HOSTED BY TERRAIN WITH

Mary Knowles (she/her) is a policy analyst from Aotearoa New Zealand and Ireland, with a background in environmental studies and a love of local conservation movements.

Long Prawn are an artistic food practice delivering rigorously researched food expertise, seasoned with creative event design and community spirit.

TICKETS

Booking essential, available as a Season Pass to all three sessions.

BOOKS

Individual books or bundles with all three books are available for purchase.

Please note: If you're purchasing Book #1 or the full bundle, these can be mailed or picked up from October 15th onwards. Otherwise Books #2 and #3 can be mailed or picked up in-store from October 3rd.