Read & Rights is a human rights book club. In November we’re reading High Season: A Memoir of Heroin and Hospitality by Jim Hearn. The event is free and will be held on Tuesday 13 November from 7pm. Tweet as you read by following @ReadandRights and using the hashtag #highseason, or join the conversation on our facebook page.
More about the book: High Season has been described as a ‘raw and unapologetic’ celebration of hospitality. We chose it for November’s Read & Rights because the topic for November is Employment Rights, and whether it’s about working as a waiter or dining at a particular restaurant, everyone has their horror-story of hospitality. The question is, will it match Jim Hearn’s? More reviews of High Season can be found on the Readings webpage, where you can also buy the ebook. Looking forward to hearing what you think of it!
More about Read & Rights: Read & Rights is a book club with a difference. We discuss human rights issues raised in a variety of literature. The book club meets on the second Tuesday each month at LOOP. The idea is similar to your usual book club, but it focuses on the issues in the book as well as how well it tells a story. The monthly event will be a chance to meet other people who are interested in human rights and literature – a great combination! The events will feature an interview or panel discussion around the issues in that month’s book, and will be a chance to meet groups in the community standing up for the rights you’ve just read about. In books, human rights are not ‘merely’ conceptual. They’re relatable; they’re a story, mixed through romance, history, or adventure so that we can feel their importance and their absence. In Halina Wagowska’s memoir The Testimony freedom isn’t something abstract; it’s a Russian soldier flipping potato pancakes. In Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi it’s finding enough copies of The Great Gatsby for a small, secret reading group. It’s a secret library in Fahrenheit 451. It’s freeing a house elf with a sock in Harry Potter. Understanding the need for justice can come from the reading about the fictional trial of Tom Robinson in the fictional town of Maycomb, or from reading about the very true case of Chris Hurley in Chloe Hooper’s The Tall Man. Join us on 13 November to discuss how Jim Hearn provides an insider’s perspective on the sometimes harrowing hospitality industry – a perfect antidote to Masterchef-fatigue!
