Throughout 2025, Problem Library is partnering with Western Neighborhoods Project (WNP), Sean Connelly (SFSU Humanities lecturer emeritus), Bazaar Cafe, and Green Apple Books to present WNP Book Club.

Join us for a book discussion on Outer Sunset by Mark Ernest Pothier, WNP Book Clubs featured title for May—June 2025.

If you’ve ever lived in the Sunset District and especially if you lived here in the late 1990s, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more relatable book. Mark Ernest Pothier takes us into intimately familiar territory through the experiences of a Lincoln High teacher, from the shabby kitchen of his musty Sunset home to the inner sanctum of Holy Virgin Cathedral on Geary, and (our personal favorite) the often chaotic atmosphere at the “Beach Safeway” on La Playa. It’s an incredibly impressive debut novel with particular western neighborhoods appeal.

And yes, author Mark Ernest Pothier will join us for the evening!

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WNP Book Club is broken into two parts: Silent Reading Parties at Bazaar Cafe and Book Discussions at Problem Library. Discussions are led by Sean and Nicole Meldahl (WNP’s Executive Director), supported by photographs from the OpenSFHistory archive, and complimentary light refreshments.