Topping & Co Working Group

Meeting on the last Wednesday of every month, the 'Topping & Co Working Group' will explore the rapidly changing character of work in the modern world.

From automation and AI to gig work and productivity culture, the working world is not what it used to be. Join the Topping & Co Working Group, where we will be exploring the dreams, nightmares, hopes, and frustrations of the modern workplace. We will be discussing novels set in the convenience store, university classroom, and newspaper advice column office. We will also read philosophical works on the fate of craftsmanship in the modern world, whether we should reassert our right to be lazy, and what the future landscape of employment looks like. Whether you are a student imagining your future, a retiree looking back on your career, or someone navigating their way through the ever shifting 21st century workforce, join us for a glass of wine and an evening of stimulating chat (out of earshot of any bosses).

The book group is hosted by our bookseller Michael, a former philosophy professor who has had more jobs than he’d like to admit.

For our next book, we are reading The Expansion Project by Ben Pester.

Plans for the expansion of the Capmeadow Business Park are in full swing - its mission is to become the greatest business park in the region. Tom Crowley, a mid-level employee, loses his daughter at 'bring your daughter to work day'. He raises the alarm, and his colleagues rush to help him find her. Eventually, after no sign of her is found, it transpires she was never there. And yet, as time goes on, Tom still cannot reconcile that she is really at home. Refusing to accept that she is safe, Tom continues to search for her in the maze of corridors and impossible multi-dimensional spaces that make up his place of work... Because Capmeadow is expanding in unexpected ways, a Liaison Officer becomes the central focus for complaints about how the expansion is impacting the lives of the employees - unexpected buildings, years-long business days, cursed farmers' markets, and corridors of the mind are draining the life from Tom and everyone he works with. Years pass, and Tom remains at the company, convinced he is in the presence of his now adult daughter. But has he judged it correctly? And can anything go back to the way it was??

Reading Group Structure

Ticketing: Each place is £5, which can be redeemed against a copy of a reading group book.

Frequency: Each reading group will meet once a month, on a set day of the week. You do not need to commit to one group, or every meeting! Just book for those you're interested in each month, and we hope to entice you back for another one.