Join Cornellians for dinner and discussion of THE LONELINESS OF SONIA AND SUNNY by Kiran Desai (2025, 670 pages.)

Saturday, March 14, 2026. Arrive by 7 pm. (Registration closes at midnight on March 12.)

Himalayan Doko 1108 K St NW, Washington, DC 20005. Between 11th and 12th streets, NW. Closest Metro = Metro Center. (Mt. Vernon Sq / Convention Center on the yellow and green lines are only a little further.) See https://www.himalayandoko.com/ and 202-637-9770

We've reserved a table for 6 to accommodate as a priority those folks who answer our book discussion survey at CCW homepage: https://cornellclubdc.org/. Complete your registration here and your name we will make official your seat at our table. (If a second table is needed because of a long wait list, we'll work that out for 2 book conversations same evening, or invite wait-listers to a Zoom discussion.)

Menu includes vegetarian options. Pay your part of the tab (bringing cash may make it easiest) Expect $25-30 before beverages. Ask for the CORNELL table when you arrive.

There is so much to this book! For example, with the questions you bring, we can explore any of the following themes: family, belonging, relationships, immigration, loneliness and sometimes isolation, "what it is to be a foreigner," arranged vs love marriages, beauty, writing, women's power or lack thereof, Eastern vs. Western perspectives, "brokenness," wholeness, separation, interdependence vs. independence, alienation, social status, duties to family, sharing stories of immigration to US for education, challenges over green card status as well as employment, lifespans and the love / transforming commitments as well as opportunities that one experiences along a lifespan...

And then there's the humor, characters, style, word choice, choices that shows the writer's brilliance and originality. How is India depicted by the author? How is America depicted in the early 2000s?

Author Kiran Desai is the Booker Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award winning author of THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS (2006). Our more recent novel was short-listed for the 2025 Booker Prize. See: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/full-list-of-booker-prize-winners-shortlisted-and-longlisted-authors

Check our logistics page at  https://sites.google.com/view/ccw-event-details/logistics before you depart for the event in case last minute updates or useful resources are posted for registrants.

Pre-register for other events in this series, including the option to discuss this book by Zoom at this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSffuCqQKfkwbhLqeip8DJ-S7vqQP1hS2N3-hd_OOg4qg3hFcQ/viewform?usp=header

Enjoy your reading,

Nikunj and Maggie, co-hosts. Questions? Contact Librarian MS @ gmail .com