Yes, we really had book club at IKEA!

We are a book club who not only actually reads books but who also does things when they say they will, and I am proud of us! We wanted to meet at Ikea today despite the 1.5 hour drive so that we could discuss both Horrorstör (Grady Hendrix) and Finna (Nino Cipri) in a more immersive location. Both books take place in Ikea-esque stores. And gosh darn it, we did it! Did people think we were weird? Yes, almost certainly. But it was fun!

After initially meeting up, we set out to find the perfect spot for discussing Horrorstör. Jessy, our queen of the aesthetics, took the lead on locating the best living room setup.

After settling in the Cozy Greige room, a woman came by and offered to photograph our "family reunion" (she was one of three women with purple hair at this Ikea today, by the way...COINCIDENCE/AU/GHOSTS???). Sorry she cut your head off, Kris!

Most members gave Horrorstör 3-4 stars and agreed that it was a great pick by Paige. We liked the idea and the plot but felt the whole thing needed more development. We would have liked more ghosts and tie-ins to the "Beehive" (the pan-opticon-like prison that used to occupy the land Örsk was built on), and more fleshing out of the themes and symbolism. Less of the personal hells of each major character would have been better too, because those parts weren't as interesting. But overall, it was an enjoyable book and it led us to think about the soullessness of retail work. Pictured below is the only beehive we were able to find.

When it was time to move on in our conversation, we örsked Morgan to lead us to a good meeting spot for Finna. They did not disappoint!

We settled into the vaguely threatening furniture (seriously, what was up with that couch?) and talked about Finna and its representation of trans characters (good and accurate) and the way people resort to insane linguistic structures to try to avoid singular "they" rather than acting and speaking like a human being. Most of us enjoyed the way the story allowed the characters to explore the end of their relationship as they engaged in an annoying work task beyond their normal hours (which involved searching the multiverse for a missing elderly customer of the store). The satire and absurdism were much appreciated. Again, though, we mostly wanted the story to be more thorough and longer. With one outlier who gave it a 2.5, most of us were also 3 and 4 star raters of this book. In lieu of a picture of our "What are you reading now" meeting place, here are Jessy and Ashley befriending some octopodes! In our "what are you reading now" discussion, though, we also shared our first retail/retail-adjacent jobs.

Lunch at Ikea was fun, too, but I'll spare you the pictures of food, which my phone camera never makes look good. Be assured that meatballs were consumed. Can't wait till the end of next month, when we go on our reading retreat!