Fort Bend County Libraries invites booklovers to attend the next meeting of the Sugar Land Book Club on Monday, Dec. 15, beginning at 7 p.m. in the conference room of the Sugar Land Branch Library.

The book to be discussed is “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street,” a short story written by Herman Melville.

This fable originally appeared in the February 1853 issue of Putnam’s Monthly Magazine. The first of a series of short stories written by Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” tells the story of a simple law clerk who becomes disillusioned by a world in which worthy actions seem pointless. Bartleby demonstrates his rebellion against this injustice by simply doing nothing.

When expected to conform to society’s standards, Bartleby’s standard reply is “I prefer not to.” His extreme passivity results in an act of defiance as powerful and effective as any actions could have been.

Anyone interested in joining this literary review club is invited to attend.

For more information, call the branch library at 281-277-8934.