The Lighthouse Book Club
Would you like to read more but just can't find the time? Is there a beautiful book sitting on your nightstand that you can't seem to finish? Do you need a little push to keep reading? Join The Lighthouse Book Club and read a book together. Both students and staff can participate. Reading with others is always more enjoyable!
What are we going to do?
Together, we'll read a chosen book. Once we've finished it, we'll exchange our reading experiences during a cozy live gathering with drinks and snacks. Each time, we'll try to make this gathering enjoyable, perhaps by inviting a speaker or even the author, or maybe we'll watch the film adaptation of the book. It's great for improving your reading skills and socializing! In one academic year, we'll read three different books. You can sign up for each book separately, so you're not committed for a whole year at once. Of course, we hope you'll join us for all the editions!
Which books are we reading?
In the academic year 2025-2026, we will start with reading the following book.
- Babel by R.F. Kuang
Here's how The Lighthouse Book Club works
Sign up for Book 1: Babel
After registering, you will receive a confirmation with the date and location for the meeting. You will also become a member of the online group The Lighthouse Book Club on Teams. Here, we stay in contact with each other while reading the book. Registration is done per book because we purchase books for the students and this way we have better insight into the numbers per round. Sign-up deadline: 22 September 2025.
What does it cost you? You'll need to obtain the book yourself: either by purchasing a paper version, an e-book, or borrowing it from someone or the Public Library. You'll also need time to read and discuss the book afterwards with other Book Club members.
Pay attention! The first 10 students (not staff š) who sign up will receive the book to read for free! Thanks to sponsorship from The Lighthouse. These students will receive a message about when they can pick up the book from The Lighthouse & Events. The condition for receiving the book is that you actually read it and attend the gathering(s).
What do you get out of it? New contacts and insights, camaraderie, live gatherings with drinks and snacks. A new book for your bookshelf, and perhaps even the opportunity to interview an author...
The Lighthouse Book Club is organized by The Lighthouse and lecturers Tiaan Westenberg and Helen Limon from European Studies.
Babel by R.F. Kuang
When will we see each other?
- Book pickup at The Lighthouse & Events (Ovaal 0.01) for students: you will receive an email about this.
- Book discussion of the book mid-December from 16:00 - 17:30 (tba).
Babel
1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day heāll enroll in Oxford Universityās prestigious Royal Institute of Translationāalso known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-workingāthe art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver barsāhas made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization.
For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . .
Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?
R.F. Kuang
Rebecca F. Kuang (born May 29, 1996) is an American novelist. Her first novel, The Poppy War, was released in 2018, followed by the sequels The Dragon Republic in 2019, and The Burning God in 2020. Kuang released a stand-alone novel, Babel, or the Necessity of Violence in 2022. Her latest release is Yellowface, a satirical novel which was published in 2023. Kuang holds an undergraduate degree in international economics with a minor in Asian Studies from Georgetown University and graduate degrees in Sinology from Magdalene College, Cambridge, and University College, Oxford, and is currently pursuing a PhD at Yale University.
